


Haven't Been Myself

by katszuku



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Fluff, Manga Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-02-27 15:31:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 37,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13251186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katszuku/pseuds/katszuku
Summary: Kageyama Tobio was never interested in anything that a typical high school girl would be into — the only thing she cared about was volleyball. Despite her explosive popularity amongst the boys (including the captain of Aoba Johsai's boys volleyball team), getting into a relationship was the last thing on her mind; or at least that was what she thought, until she met the best setter in the nation, Miya Atsumu. What started off as a simple deal between the two eventually became something more...





	1. One.

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is the result of a bunch of headcanons my friend and I came up with while fangirling over a fem!Kageyama & Atsumu fanart on Pinterest. I don't think anyone will read this fic ngl but if you do, thank you so much and I want to apologize in advance for the crappy writing and grammatical errors (its been a good 5 to 6 years since I last wrote a fanfic and I haven't been taking English classes since high school lol rip)!! Kageyama, Hinata and Sugawara are girls in this fic and they are on the Karasuno girls' volleyball team while the other members like Daichi, Asahi and the second years are still boys (I haven't decided on whether Tsukishima and Yamaguchi will be girls or not so I guess that will be a surprise??) and same with the Inarizaki boys. This fic probably going to be a short one (not more than 10 chapters); but then again, I told myself initially this was going to be an one-shot but here we are, publishing a multi-chapter fic :')))) This fic takes place in the Tokyo Nationals Arc in which both Karasuno boys and girls team are representing Miyagi in the Nationals (rather than Niiyama Joshi representing Miyagi in the girls' division). There are minor manga spoilers (if you didn't read up to chapter 247 I guess finding out Atsumu has a twin is a spoiler??) but the plot of the fic pretty much diverges from there. I made Inarizaki play against another team in the second round instead of Karasuno and Karasuno will play Inarizaki in the third round. Also, it seems like no one knows whether Osamu or Atsumu is the older one so I made Osamu the older twin and Atsumu the younger twin here. I hope y'all will enjoy this fic and happy reading!! :D 
> 
> p.s. I have no idea how often I'd be able to update since a new semester is literally right around the corner but I'll do my best to update asap!!
> 
> Also!! My amazing friend (@oikaaaa) also wrote a fic on Hinata x Osamu pairing called "Something Other Than Rice" when we were coming up with headcanons for MiyaKage and thought how adorable of a couple would Hinata and Osamu be so please absolutely do check it out!! I promise it is amazing ♥

“Alright, we have a few hours until our match starts; be sure to be back here at this spot by 3 PM sharp, got it?” Kita announced to the team as he glanced at his watch that read 12 PM. It was the second day of spring nationals; despite the fact that everyone seems to be in tip top condition, the captain of the team couldn’t help but worry about what the rest of the day would be like for them, especially when it comes to the troublemaker of the team, Miya Atsumu (and occasionally his twin, Miya Osamu). The boy is just as good at causing trouble as he is as a volleyball player; God knows how many people he pissed off already with that condescending attitude of his and his superior ability at the art of provocation. Kita looked at their setter and rubbed his temple, desperately trying to think of other things to distract himself from coming up with more scenerios involving Atsumu that would just end up giving him a headache.

“Okay, okay, _captain_. How many times do you have to say it? You sound like a broken record,” Atsumu whined after dropping the heavy bags he was carrying on the ground where they are resting and rubbed his sore shoulders.

“Pretty sure the only reason why Kita is repeating himself so many times is because of you, dumbass,” Osamu said a matter of factly and earned himself a punch on the shoulder from his twin.

“You don’t have to remind me of the one time that I was late, ok?? Would it kill you to stop being such a blabbermouth?” The blonde scowled at his brother, who looked expressionless as ever. The silver-haired boy simply shrugged and reached for the water bottle in his bag, not paying the younger any attention.

“Yo twins, take your bickering elsewhere, people are trying to rest here,” Suna said dryly with a yawn and laid down on the mat while looking at his phone. Few of the members proceed to settle down on the mat while others are fishing out their phone and wallet to do some shopping or watch the other schools play against each other.

“Samu, who’s playing today?”Atsumu tucked his wallet and phone in his jacket and left the resting area with his twin and Ojiro.

“Dunno, none of the schools I saw really stood out to me,” Osamu replied as they made their way to the main lobby of the gymnasium. The three of them managed to make their way through the crowd and stopped in front of a vending machine; Atsumu fished out some coins from his pant pocket and tossed a few into the machine to get the chocolate bar he usually gets before a game.

“Well, we can always watch the girls’ team play,” Ojiro suggested while pressing the button for milk and fishing it out from the slot.

“Ohhh yeah‼ Great idea, Aran!” Atsumu’s eyes glistened as he praises his friend and rushed on over to the bulletin board that listed all the time slots which the teams are playing.

“Tsubakihara is playing right now! Heard the girls on that team are pretty great,” the blond commented excitedly while his twin rolled his eyes.

“In terms of looks or abilities? Pretty sure you’re only interested in watching the girls’ matches because of their bodies,” Ojiro commented as they walked towards the audience seats.

“Ah shut up, Aran. You’re the one who suggested to watch the girls’ team play, talk about the pot calling the kettle black,” Atsumu argued and the boys settled down in seats few rows above Tsubakihara’s cheering squad.

“Who are they playing again?” Osamu asked while sipping on his yogurt drink.

“T-Torino?? What?” The blond looked at the booklet on his hand and read out the kanji letters. Ojiro reached for the booklet and squinted his eye.

“It’s Karasuno,” Ojiro said with a loud laugh and returned the booklet to the now embarrassed setter, who angrily snatched it away from him.

“Never heard of them,” Osamu said and stretched his arms as he yawned.

“Did you just yawn?? When a bunch of heavenly angels are right in front of your eyes and you are tired?? What’s wrong with you,” Atsumu sat up and questioned his twin with disbelief.

“Shut up, not everyone is a thirsty creep like you,” Osamu snapped back and Atsumu launched himself from his seat towards his twin, hands grabbed around Osamu’s collar while Osamu shoved the younger twin away with his palm on his face.

“Be quiet you two‼ I’m trying to watch the game!” Ojiro shushed the Miya twins and they scowled at each other but let go of each other. They watched the match in silence for a good 10 minutes until Tsubakihara called their first time of the set; the score board read “Tsubakihara – 2 | Karasuno – 6”.

“Not surprised they called a time-out, Karasuno’s ace and the other wing spiker’s attacks have been catching Tsukbakihara off guard,” Ojiro commented.

“Not only the attacks are strong, their defense is pretty solid too; they completely shut out all of Tsukbakihara’s spikes,” Osamu added.

“Damn, this Karasuno’s actually winning—” Atsumu stopped short of his sentence as all of his attention shifted towards the current possessor of the ball. The girl was breathtakingly beautiful — her long, pitch black hair tied into a high ponytail with fringes covering her forhead and framing sides of her slightly tanned and oval shaped face; her tight, black uniform with bright orange accents accentuated her wonderful figure. She spun the ball in her palms with her long finger and drew in a deep breath; her striking midnight navy eyes focused on the ball that she spun in her palms with her slender fingers and tossed the ball high up in the air. She ran and leaped into the air with grace as she spiked the ball across the net with stunning speed and power, leaving her opponents plus the audience dumbfounded.

“SERVICE ACEEEEEEE‼” The guys on the row above Atsumu’s row roared after the ball landed the ground.

“My my, what a serve…” mused Atsumu; this mysterious and powerful server piqued his curiosity and he found himself unable to look away from her.

“Yeah, that was a great serve, damn,” the elder twin commented.

“Number 9… Kageyama Tobio,” the ace of Inarizaki said quietly and the twins turned their heads to look at the 3rd year.  

“The girl who just served, her name is Kageyama Tobio,” Ojiro repeated. “I think I have heard of her name before… Apparently she’s a genius setter or something.”

“Genius setter?” Osamu commented as he gulped down the last bit of his yogurt drink.

“She’s able to accurately predict the trajectory of the ball with superior accuracy and sets it at an alarming speed apparently,” Ojiro commented without looking up from the booklet. “She’s a first year and already a regular setter for the team, and it seems like she’s gone to the national youth training camp this year.”

“Really?? Now that’s interesting…” Atsumu murmured with a little smirk and returned his gaze back to the girl now surrounded by her teammates who showered her with praises and high-fives. “Kageyama Tobio…”

* * *

Kageyama buried her sweat-soaked face in the soft, white towel handed to her while trying to catch her breath. The game only lasted for an hour, with Karasuno winning both the first and second set, allowing them to advance to the third round of nationals. The black-haired girl was glad that she was in tip top condition today, and their new freak quicks managed to throw off their opponents over and over again, allowing them to score tons of points and put an end to their first match. _But we’ll only continue to face more and more difficult opponents who would be able to deal with their new quicks in days to come..._ Kageyama thought to herself. _We need to come up with something to deal with them, otherwise—_

“What are you thinking about? It’s time to go,” a voice called out and Kageyama snapped out of her train of thoughts.

“Uh-what? Ok…” Kageyama responded and quickly caught up with the rest of her teammates.

“We won the match‼ Why aren’t you happy??” The oranged-haired girl questioned excitedly while looking at the setter with her large brown eyes. The tiny middle blocker was almost a head shorter than Kageyama; her bright orange curls were tied into short pigtails that bounced along as she hopped from place to place as if she’s an overly energetic bunny.

“I was thinking about how our quicks might’ve thrown off our opponents today, but we can’t rely on it— Ow‼” The black-haired girl shrieked when her teammate smacked her on the bum.

“Stop your worrying already‼ We’re gonna head back to the dorm and discuss strategies for our next game and we’ll be ok so relax for once!” Hinata complained with a frown as they walk out of the gymnasium.

“Ah, Daichi-senpai is here to see Suga again, doesn’t he make such a cute couple with her?? The captain couple makes me envious.” Hinata sighed in awe as she watched the captain of the boys’ volleyball team, Sawamura Daichi, greet their captain, Sugawara, with a congratulatory kiss on the cheek.

“I guess,” Kageyama said with a scowl shot in Hinata’s direction, hands rubbing on the stinging buttcheek that the middle blocker slapped with no mercy.

“Speaking of which, your _boyfriend_ is here,” the orange-haired girl whispered in Kageyama’s ear, making the black-haired girl whip her head around so quickly that her long ponytail smacked the shorter girl in the face.

“Ow!” Hinata complained while burying her face in her palms. A tall boy with chocolate brown hair swept to the sides approached the two with a warm smile and a wave; he sported an indigo coloured trench coat with a cream sweater layered over a white collar shirt underneath it, paired with brown trousers that end at the ankle and a pair of oxfords. He was also strikingly gooding looking, earning him whispers and squeals from girls that just happen to pass by him in public.

“Yahoo! Tobio and shrimpy‼ Congrats on your win,” The boy said with a smile, his eyes locked on the black-haired girl from the moment he saw the duo despite also addressing the small middle blocker right next to her in his sentence.

“O-Oikawa senpai?? What are you doing here?” Kageyama questioned with confusion. Oikawa Tooru, a 3rd year Aoba Johsai student and also the boys’ volleyball team captain, was someone that Kageyama knew ever since the first year of middle school. He was a very skilled setter and captain who’s capable of bringing the best out of any team that he played on, and also someone that Kageyama learned how to do a jump serve from watching afar because she didn’t know how to approach a male upperclassman and ask for help. Eventually, it took her a good 6 months to work up enough courage to ask Oikawa one day and much to her surprise, he willingly taught her everything under the condition that she’d have to buy him milk bread every week until he graduated. After months of practices and interactions between the two, Oikawa declared on the day of his graduation that he’d get Kageyama to accept his feelings and be his girlfriend in the near future; ever since then, he has been visiting and texting her relentlessly as if they have been dating for the past 2 and a half years.

“What else? To watch my future girlfriend kick other girls’ asses,” Oikawa said and pinched the black-haired girl’s cheek lightly. The whispering and gasping from other girls seemed to have intensified and Kageyama was bothered by it.

“I’m not your girlfriend, Oikawa-senpai,” Kageyama said and swatted the older boy’s hand away. She turned her head slightly away, refusing to look at the boy in the eye.

“You’re so cute when you are shy, Tobio. Also, we know each other for 3 years already, just call me Tooru,” Oikawa said with a smile, his eyes still locked on Kageyama.

“I’ll stick with Oikawa-senpai,” Kageyama replied. “Also, why are you in Tokyo? Don’t you have school today? Seijoh didn’t make it to the nationals though…”

“Ouch, Tobio, you don’t have to remind me that we lost to Karasuno, it hurts,” Oikawa pouted as he placed a hand over his heart and continued. “I’m in Tokyo for a college interview, and I knew you were playing today so I stopped by to watch you; it seems like I got here a bit late though.”

“I see. I’ll get going now,” Kageyama said and turned to leave but Oikawa’s hands caught her wrist before she can take off.

“In such a hurry to run away from your senpai, Tobio?? At least take this before you leave,” the older boy said and fished out a milk carton and curry bread from his bag; he stuffed the items onto Kageyama’s palm and made sure she gripped onto them.

“I knew you liked this so I picked it up on my way here, I don’t know how they taste since I have never visited a Tokyo bakery, but make sure you eat them instead of starving yourself, ok??” Oikawa said with a smile and Kageyama stood there with her eyes wide, clearly caught off guard by the boy’s action.

“Uh-Uhm… Senpai, you didn’t have to—” Kageyama started hesitantly but was cut off by Oikawa.

“Just watch, Tobio, I’ll make you fall in love with me. It’s only a matter of time,” The older boy winked and ruffled her hair before taking off. Kageyama stood there and watched him disappear behind the doors, still confused by Seijoh captain’s advances until she felt a hard slap on the shoulder made by a certain midget.

“Hey, why don’t you like him, Kageyama?? He’s literally the perfect match for you, queen of the court,” Hinata said after checking Oikawa had walked far enough to not hear their conversation.

“He’s too odd?? Who goes around declaring to other people that I’ll be his future girlfriend? Is he a psychic? How can he tell the future? Such a weirdo,” Kageyama frowned and looked at the milk and bread on her hands.

“Have you ever heard of something called flirting? Bakayama,” Hinata questioned. “He’s trying to make a move on you, idiot. You literally have a fanclub full of boys who are all after you, yet you don’t even know it because all you care about is volleyball. So dense,” Hinata sighed and patted the setter’s back.

“Can you stop calling me an idiot?? And why would I need to know something useless like that?” Kageyama shrugged off the orange-haired girl’s hand and walked away.

“You should at least have some awareness, ok?? It’s also irritating for me to always have boys ask me to give you their gifts‼” Hinata yelled as she chased the setter down.

“You are the one that should have some awareness of how bad your receives and serves are,” Kageyama teased with a smirk as she watched the smaller girl explode with anger and attempted to get a punch in with her short arms.

“You two! Stop fighting! I looked everywhere for you guys,” Sugawara panted as she ran up to the two first years.

“Sorry, Suga! Kageyama was busy with her boyfriend as you know,” Hinata sighed and Kageyama elbowed her.

“Ow‼ That was my boob, Kageyama!” The orange-haired girl shrieked as she placed a hand over her chest.

“Sorry, Sugawara-senpai,” Kageyama ignored the shorter girl and followed the nagging captain back to their resting area. The girls came to a halt before they walk past the main arena’s entrance as a group of boys in black uniform was about to march into the arena; the pack was led by a pale blond-haired boy with dark tips accompanied by a silver-haired and blond boy on either side (who looked like clones of one another much to Kageyama’s surprise). The team retained an aura of mystery and dominance that immediately captured everyone’s attention, including Kageyama’s. The blond boy walking in the front line turned his head sideways and his striking, amber-coloured eyes locked on Kageyama for a good few seconds as his team approached the entrance of the arena; the corner of his lips curled into a smirk before his team stepped in and the crowd erupted into deafening cheers. Kageyama watched the especially peculiar number 7 and his team enter the arena with confusion, wondered why the blond was staring at her for what seems like quite a long time before she got dragged away by the tiny middle blocker.

 “Alright girls, good work today and congrats on making past the second round. We’re going to see who our opponent is for tomorrow’s match right now, and when we get back we’ll talk about strategies,” the coach said after the team packed up their stuff already and made it to the main arena where their potential opponents are playing at the moment. They settled down on the bleachers and Kageyama looked at the bread and milk Oikawa had given her earlier.

“Are you not gonna eat that? I’ll have it if you don’t want it,” Hinata said, reaching for the curry bun while chewing on a banana.

“That’s mine, idiot,” Kageyama smacked away the orange-haired girl’s hand and opened the packaging without hesitation and took a large bite out of the pastry; she was surprised at how good it tasted and was lowkey grateful that Oikawa stopped by today.

“Damn, these Shinzen girls are scary, I hope we aren’t playing them tomorrow—” Hinata commented but was immediately interrupted by the deafening cheer emitted from the next court.

“Ohh‼ Isn’t that the super intimidating team that we saw earlier??” Hinata said excitedly and jabbed her finger at the court next to the ones they’re watching at the moment. Kageyama shifted her focus onto the same flock of boys in black she witnessed a while ago; they were now crowded around the silver-haired boy and the chant “NICE KILL OSAMU! PUSH IT, PUSH IT OSAMU‼ GIVE US ANOTHER!!!” ringed throughout the whole arena.

“Inarizaki, eh? They are definitely something else,” a voice said and the two girls turned around to see captain of the Karasuno boys volleyball team Sawamura and rest of the team on the bleachers.

“Sawamura senpai! Are you watching them play??” Hinata asked with a bright smile.

“Yes, we might be playing against them tomorrow since it seems like they’ll win this set in no time. Ah! Also, congrats on making past the second round‼” Sawamura said.

“You guys are not too bad yourself,” Sugawara said, joining Hinata and Kageyama and smiled lovingly at her boyfriend.

“It’s quite a miracle that both boys and girls Karasuno volleyball team made it to nationals, I’m sure you guys will crush your opponents tomorrow as well. With us, I’m not quite sure that we’d win against the runner-ups of the last Inter High, but we’ll do our best,” Sawamura said with a sigh.

“Daichi, don’t worry‼ We definitely will beat them, have some faith in us!” Nishinoya yelled with confidence, his mouth full of chocolate bar that he took a humongous bite out of.

“That’s righ‼ We’ll defy the odds and win against Inarizaki‼” Tanaka chimed in and Sugawara smiled.

“See, Daichi, listen to your teammates and have some faith in your team!” Sugawara said with a reassuring pat on the captain’s back and Sawamura returned the smile, the two clearly too engrossed in each other to notice the rest of the boys’ team rolled their eyes at the couple and Ennoshita whispered “get a room‼”, followed by a few snickers from the second years.

“Kageyama, maybe we should leave, I feel like I’m third wheeling them,” Hinata said and scooched Kageyama further away from the couple, making them directly above the court where Inarizaki is playing.

“Shouldn’t we go back? What’s the use of watching a boys’ team?” Kageyama said with a frown while sipping on the milk Oikawa gave her from a straw.

“I just want to see them play for a while! We can also learn a lot from watching how the 2nd best boys team in the nation play,” Hinata said with enthusiasm and Kageyama wasn’t going to argue with that. A game is a game and she always learned something new by watching how others play, regardless of gender. They moved closer to get a better view until they were caught off guard by a bunch of what seems like to be fangirls with banners that said “Miya twins” or “Atsumu and Osamu”.

“KYAAAAAA~ ATSUMUUUUU‼ DO YOUR BEST‼” The fangirls screamed and Kageyama had to cover her ears to prevent herself from going deaf from such high frequencies of sound waves. Her attention shifted back onto the court and she looked carefully to see that same number 7 that smirked at her was about to serve. The moment he raised his hands and clenched it into a fist, the entire cheering squad fell silent; he tossed the ball up in the air and launched himself into the air, ready to spike the ball with all of his might.

“LETS GOOOOOOOO~” The two fangirls squealed and their voices were the only ones to be heard from the cheering squad. Number 7’s hand slammed against the ball and projected it across the net and it hit the ground in an instant. The crowd went crazy and the chant “NICE SERVE ATSUMU‼ LET’S GO, LET’S GO, ATSUMU‼ GIVE US ANOTHER‼” filled the arena once again; the team members yelled “ALL RIGHTT” simultaneously and patted the server’s back with smiles on their faces. Number 7, however, didn’t move a single inch and stood there for a minute before turning his torso around to face the audience and looked at the fangirls with a deadly expression on his face; his jaws were clenched and his eyes were cold as ice.

“Oh my goodness, Atsumu’s looking at us‼” One of the fangirls squealed as he shot an annoyed look at the group of giggling girls.

“What is this guy’s deal… He totally missed his serve there,” Kageyama mumbled to herself when she saw his serve barely stepping the line and him giving the girls a death stare until the blond’s eyes met hers for the second time today. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of Kageyama and his expression quickly morphd into something less menancing and somewhat more friendly; his pursed lip curved into a smile reminiscent of the smirk he did earlier. He raised his arm and pointed his finger straight at the black-haired girl with an expression that looks as if he’s overflowing with confidence before turning his back towards them again and got into position for the next serve.

“D-Did he just point at you, Kageyama?” Hinata whipped her head around to face the confused setter.

“What the?...” Kageyama murmured to herself while the other fangirls’ attention were now directed to the girl that the blond just pointed at with a smirk.

“Can you girls keep it down when someone’s serving? I don’t think he liked that very much,” a guy said in the back.

“What?? They always do that on TV though…” One of the girls said with a pout and they fell silent afterwards. The ball was returned to the blond and he smacked the ball up and down a few times before tossing it upwards once again and leaped into the air with great speed and slammed the ball over to the other side of the net. The ball landed before the opponents had realized what happened and the whistle sounded, indicating another point gained by Inarizaki.

“Woah… That serve…” Kageyama’s eyes widen in shock, her mouth agape.

“Was amazing‼” Hinata finished her sentence with enthusiasm, her words barely audible thanks to the cheery tunes blasted by the marching band and the fangirls’ dying whale noise. The last time a serve had stunned Kageyama was back when she first saw Oikawa serve at the middle school boys volleyball tournament in Kitagawa Daiichi. But _this_ , this was something else. Kageyama quickly picked up a booklet abandoned by a spectator on the ground and flipped to the page with Inarizaki’s introductions. She searched for Number 7’s in the team member profiles and stopped at the name “Miya Atsumu”.

“Miya Atsumu… 2nd year main setter… Best high school setter in the nation??!” Kageyama shrieked and Hinata hopped over to her side and peaked her head over the taller girl’s shoulder to see what she was reading.

“Damn… No wonder he serves like that‼ He’s freaking the best setter in Japan!” Hinata exclaimed after she snatched the booklet from the setter’s hands and inspect it on her own. “He has a twin though?? Miya Osamu? So those two were the ones that the fangirls were squealing about…”

“Ah… I saw someone that looks just like him earlier, that makes sense… What is his position?” Kageyama asked, eyes still fixed on the Number 7 who she caught him sneaking another glance in her direction.

“Wing spiker… He is pretty good too, but not one of the best aces in the country or anything like Ushiwaka,” Hinata replied. “Hmm… they are not bad on the eyes so no wonder they are popular…”

“Miya Atsumu is exceptionally good at serving, but I wonder what else that makes him the best in the country…” Kageyama said thoughtfully while staring at Number 7’s portrait picture on the booklet. _He wasn’t just the best setter in his prefecture, he’s the best setter in the entire nation… If I could learn from him, would I be able to rise and become the best female setter in Japan??...._

“A jump floater???!!!” Hinata screamed and patted Kageyama excitedly on the shoulder and her attention immediately shifted back onto the match; instead of doing the powerful spike serve he demonstrated in the past two serves, he switched to a jump floater and rendered the libero unable to receive the ball, thus scoring yet another point off the opponent team.

“Ahh, the dual wielder,” a voice spoke behind the two girls and they turned to see a male spectator with what it seems like to be his girlfriend.

“What’s that?” Kageyama asked with no hesitation and the boy seemed to be caught off guard by the black-haired girl’s sudden question.

“Huh? Oh, Miya Atsumu is able to use both jump serve and spike serve equally well when he serves, it’s difficult to predict what serve he’ll use unless you studied him in previous matches. But, if you look at the number of steps he take before serving, you should be able to tell what kind of serve it’ll be,” the boy said a-matter-of-factly.

“Wow, Suguru, how did you figure that out?? I can’t even tell the difference! You’re amazing,” the girl next to him chimed in and he smiled smugly at his girlfriend’s compliment.

“Ahh, I see…” Kageyama turned back to face the court, her eyes searched through the crowd of boys in black jersey and located Miya Atsumu standing next to his twin. _Focus on him, Tobio_ , Kageyama told herself. _Carefully analyze his set up, his serves… You need to be on his level to be the best setter in the nation…_

“Kageyama, you should totally ask him to teach you those serves! Imagine if we had that, scoring points would be like taking candy from a baby! You’d probably be the first female serve in the country who could do that,” Hinata sighed as the opponent team took their second time out of the set. Kageyama whipped her head around quickly and stared at the orange-haired girl with widened eyes.

“You’re right‼ You’re actually a genius, Hinata!” Kageyama remarked with excitement and gripped the smaller girl’s shoulder with both of her hands and shook her.

“Haha! I know right— Wait what? I was just joking though???” Hinata questioned and looked at Kageyama with disbelief.

“If I can learn from him, I could possibly become the best setter in the nation…” Kageyama murmured with enthusiasm, her eyes sparkling with ambition. “I’ll do whatever it takes to have him teach me…”

* * *

Atsumu buried his face in the white towel, letting it soak up all the sweat that still lingered on his face after the match ended. The time seemed to have passed so painfully slow to Atsumu, it was as if they were playing a five set match instead of a two sets match; he knew exactly why he was so antsy for the match to end and the setter smiled to himself as he quickly packed up everything, hoping to leave the court as soon as possible.

“What’s the hurry?” Ojiro commented while drinking from his water bottle.

“I need to go see someone,” Atsumu said while putting on his jacket after wiping off the sweat from his face and neck.

“Is that someone Kageyama Tobio?” Osamu chimed in nonchalantly from behind, putting the towel over his neck and Atsumu whipped his head around to look at his twin. He opened his mouth to say something but was quickly interrupted by his brother.

“Don’t need to ask me why I know, I saw you giving her your usual _seductive_ looks during the entire match,” Osamu sneered at the younger twin and Ojiro gagged a little at the word “seductive”.

“Well, it seems like the interest is mutual as she has been staring at me throughout the entire match, aren’t I right?” Atsumu remarked while wearing a smug smile on his face. Osamu rolled his eyes at the twin and went to talk to Suna instead.

“Are you sure it isn’t a figment of your imagination? I doubt she’s interested in you,” Ojiro said as he packed his bags.

“You owe me three Yakisoba bread if I get her number,” the blond said with a smirk and walked towards the entrance. He looked around his surroundings once he got out of the arena and was immediately swarmed by his fangirls offering him freshly baked cookies, cakes and other pastries made by themselves and other gifts wrapped in pink heart-shaped wrapping paper with a love letter attached to them. He forced a smile as he received those gifts from the girls and answering their questions haphazardly as he searched through the crowd for a certain black-haired girl. From the corner of his eye, he finally pinpointed his target standing about 5 meters away from him and a grin flashed over his face.

“Sorry girls, I gotta go,” he said excitedly and freed himself from the mob of fangirls; he quickly grabbed Kita who happened to walk by with the rest of the team and dumped his gifts on the captain and took off towards the direction of the 1st year.

“Waiting for someone?” Atsumu mused with a smirk on the face. Kageyama jumped a little at the unfamiliar voice behind her and whipped her head around, her large, blue eyes widened in shock.

“Uh-Uhmm-Y-Yes! N-No!” Kageyama stuttered and stared at the blond boy as he leaned closer to her.

“Which one is it?” Atsumu closed the distance between the two, his amber eyes stared intensly into hers.

“Uh-Uhm…” Kageyama tore her eyes away from the setter, refusing to look at him any longer. She felt her cheeks burning up at the encounter and she cupped them with her cold hands in hopes to cool them down.

“Or maybe I should change the question… Do you need something from me? I see you’ve been staring at me throughout the entire match,” the blond asked, his eyes trailed up and down from her eyes to her lips as he waited for a response. Kageyama turned her face to meet his once again and straightened herself up to look at him in the eye; the determination and ambition in her eyes caught Atsumu off guard and he suddenly wondered if she really wanted something from him. Atsumu was forced to take a step or two back as Kageyama immediately did a perfect 90 degrees bow, he looked at her with his eyes widened and flustered at her sudden action.

“Please teach me how to serve!” Kageyama yelled without looking up and Atsumu stood there, stunned.

“W-What?” The blond furrowed his brows and questioned. _This was not what I was expecting… at all_ , he thought to himself.

“I watched you play earlier and your serves were amazing! Please teach me how you did both the jump floater and spike serve! Please! And your set up‼ Please!” Kageyama remained her 90 degrees bent position and repeated herself with her eyes squeezed shut. Atsumu couldn’t believe what he heard the first time, and hearing it the second time was even more striking. He started thinking back to all the flirty looks he threw in her direction, thinking she must’ve been one of the girls who fell in love with him after watching him play. He was so sure that Kageyama had wanted to confess to him after the match; after all, there wasn’t any girl who managed not to fall in love with him after all those seductive glances and smirks he sent in their way. Here was him, thinking that he got himself a potential gorgeous girlfriend—

“Sure,” Atsumu said, his shocked expression dissipated into something more mischievous; his lips curled into a smirk and tucked his hands into his pant pockets. _There is no reason to get disappointed already, Atsumu_ , he thought to himself. _A truly intelligent person would be able to change anything, whether good or bad, to favour him or herself in the end. No need to fret. If God throws a beautiful girl in your way, seize the chance and make her yours._ Kageyama snapped back into standing position and looked at him excitedly and grabbed onto the sleeve of his jacket which caught Atsumu off guard.

“Really?? You mean it right?? You’ll really teach me???” Kageyama exclaimed with her glistening eyes staring straight into Atsumu’s, her smile was nice and wide and her cheeks still flushed pink from embarrassment and now enthusiasm. _How cute_ , Atsumu thought to himself. Kageyama seemed to notice where she just placed her hands and quickly released the fabric of the blond’s jacket from her grip, embarrassed.

“Under one condition though,” Atsumu cleared his throat and stated. Kageyama’s smile faltered into something more like a pout and she cocked her head slightly to the side, confused by what Atsumu had just said.

“What is it?” The black haired-girl questioned anxiously with a concerned look on her face; her heart was beating so fast to the point it felt like it was going to pop out of her chest.

“Go on a date with me,” was all the blond said.

 

 

 

 

* * *

A/N: Here's the inspiration of this fic for you all to enjoy!! ♡ Sadly I do not know who the artist of this fanart (since I came across it on pinterest and couldn't find it anywhere else); if you guys happen to know the source, please do let me know so I can properly credit the artist!!


	2. Two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! I'm back again with another chapter (already LOL) because it seems like I'm on a roll with this fic and have been writing non-stop since this morning :D Honestly I didn't expect a single soul (except for my friend) to read it but this fic already had 100+ hits within the last 24 hours and some of you kind and beautiful people even left kudos and comments!! Thank you all so extremely much ╥﹏╥ /sends kisses to you all/  
> Last chapter I mentioned I wasn't sure whether I'd make Tsukki and Yams girls or boys but I have decided that they'll be girls in Karasuno's girls volleyball team with the same positions. Some players in the original girls team (like Michimiya and Aihara) are still in the team except Suga is the captain instead of Michimiya. Also, I went back to the last chapter to insert the fanart that inspired me to write this fic and I'll be leaving some more fanarts that I used as inspirations when writing the characters at the end of this chapter as well, hope you guys will enjoy it!!

The word “date” repeated itself multiple times in Kageyama’s head as she was trying to decipher what the boy had just said to her; she almost wanted to slap herself to make sure she wasn’t imagining any of this right now. _A date?? Who in the world asks for a date in exchange of something else? Is he out of his mind? Are people from other prefectures crazier??_

“A-A date?” Kageyama stuttered, hoping she misheard the boy’s words.

“Yes, a date,” Atsumu repeated with a sly smile. “Why? Don’t want to do it? Then I guess no deal then.” The blond boy turned around and was about to walk away but Kageyama grabbed his arm reflexively.

“I’ll do it,” Kageyama said confidently and Atsumu turned around to look at her in the eye with a wide grin across his face. As ridiculous and absurd as Atsumu’s request was, Kageyama was determined to get him to teach her how to serve no matter what.

“Give me your phone,” the Inarizaki setter demanded and Kageyama fished out her smart phone from her coat pocket and handed it over to the boy with confusion. He took the phone from her hands and added his number into the contacts and entered “Atsumu” in the “Name” field; the blond boy then dialed the number and his phone buzzed in his pocket a second later. He hung up the phone and returned it to its owner with a smile.

“Here, you have my number and I have yours, Tobio. We can work a time out for our date from here, ok?” Atsumu leaned closer towards Kageyama, his voice deep and his eyes were alluring. Kageyama found herself blushing once more as the blond inched forward, closing the distance between their faces and bodies; except this time, she didn’t avoid his gaze but returned them instead with widened eyes. She was definitely not prepared for Atsumu to call her by her first name already and that only made her cheeks heat up even more.

“Atsumu‼ What are you doing?? Let’s go!” Kita said while approached the pair and Atsumu jumped a little when he heard the captain’s voice. He mentally cursed the captain for ruining his moment with Kageyama and sighed.

“Looks like I have to go now, Tobio. I can’t wait for the next time we meet again,” Atsumu said with a smile after and patted Kageyama on the head before leaving with the captain who proceed to smack his head and earning a loud “Ow!” from the setter. Kageyama flinched a little at the sudden, unexpected gesture from the blond and watched him being dragged away by the pale-blond-haired boy she saw earlier at the match; she looked at the phone that was returned to her and saw the name “Atsumu” now added into her list of contacts. _What in the world just happened??_ She thought to herself, unsure about what should she be feeling at the moment. Kageyama snapped out of her train of thoughts when a familiar voice called out behind her and she turned around to see the small middle blocker running towards her.

“Kageyama‼ Where were you?? You went to the washroom and never came back so I thought you fell into the toilet or something!” Hinata exclaimed and Kageyama scowled at her.

“Shut up, idiot. I’m not like you, midget,” Kageyama replied and walked towards the exit of the main lobby, ignoring Hinata’s angry comebacks that followed her comment.

* * *

“You’re joking right??! How??” Ojiro questioned over the dinner table, his eyes widened at the phone number that Atsumu showed him with a huge, smug smile spread across his face.

“It’s probably a fake number, that girl wouldn’t be interested in someone like _him_ ,” Osamu said while stuffing more rice into his mouth and choked when Atsumu punched his twin in the stomach.

“Oy, oy. Don’t go around spewing nonsense, you’re just jealous that I’m so much better at getting girls’ number than you are. Well, can’t be helped, I’m just better at a lot of things than you are, you should just accept that fact—” Atsumu said nonchalantly before Osamu grabbed his twin’s hair and returned the punch in the stomach with more force.

“Why you little—” Atsumu growled and proceed to grab the older twin’s shirt and ready to throw a punch at his face until Ojiro manually separated the two.

“Stop it you two‼ Kita’s giving you guys the death stare,” the ace said in a hushed tone and the twins froze in their seats.

“If you guys are going to fight at the dinner table like a bunch of second grade kids and disrupting other people’s peaceful meal time, then I suggest you two pack your bags and go back to elementary school and relearn your manners,” the captain said with an icy tone while sipping on his miso soup. The twins nodded silently and resumed stuffing food in their faces without saying another word until the pale-blond-haired boy finished his meal and left the dinner table.

“So where’s the proof? I’m not gonna give you three Yakisoba bread without some proof,” Ojiro said after checking Kita has completely exited the dining hall in the hotel.

“You want proof? Alright, I’ll give it to you,” Atsumu said with a smirk after he wiped his mouth with napkins and tapped the “dial” button on the phone.

“You’re gonna call her???” Ojiro exclaimed and Atsumu shushed him by covering the ace’s mouth with his hand. “It’s ringing‼”

“Hello?” A voice sounded from the phone and Ojiro’s eyes widened in shock; Osamu scooched in closer to the phone to listen.

“Hey Tobio, how’s it going? Did you eat already?” Atsumu said with that “seductive” voice of his and Osamu made a gagging sound.

“Tobio?? Who the hell is this? Are you close with Kageyama?” The voice on the other line shrieked and the trio jumped in their seats.

“W-Who’s this??” Atsumu stuttered and looked at the phone to make sure he didn’t dial the wrong number.

“It’s her teammate, Hinata Shoyo. What business do you have with Kageyama?” The girl answered and Ojiro tapped Atsumu on the shoulder repetitively until he turned around to look at the ace.

“It’s #10! The one that does the crazy spikes with Kageyama!” Ojiro mouthed and the twins nodded in unison; they all still remember watching the freak duo’s attacks in awe this afternoon during Karasuno’s match.

“U-Uh, yes! Hello! Do you perhaps know where Kageyama is at right now?” the blond asked in his fake overly-nice voice he pulls when talking to strangers.

“She’s in the bath right now— Wait,” Hinata gasped over the phone and the trio’s cheeks immediately light up a bright side of red the moment they heard what Kageyama was doing at the moment.

“A-Aren’t you that setter from In-Inarikazi?? The best setter in the nation?? Holy freaking crap, she actually approached you? That girl’s out of her mind…” Hinata exclaimed loudly and the three of them jumped in their seats, surprised at how loud the other girl was over the phone.

“It’s Inarizaki, and yes, I’m Miya Atsumu,” the setter continued with his overly-nice voice impatiently.

“No way, no way‼ I can’t believe Kageyama— No!” The girl’s voice trailed off and a thud was heard from the other line. Atsumu looked at Ojiro and then at Osamu with a confused expression on his face to find the same confused expression on the other two.

“Hel-Hello?” Another quieter, softer voice spoke on the other line and the boys inched closer towards the phone again.

“Hello? Tobio?” Atsumu said quickly and brought the phone closer to him.

“Y-Yes, it’s me… A-Atsumu?” Kageyama replied and pronounced his name slowly with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. The blond felt his cheeks heat up when he heard how the girl on the other line said his name for the first time; Oh, how he wished he was alone right now instead of being stuck with two other nosy bastards.

“Yeah, how’s it going?” Atsumu asked, trying to sound nonchalant but found it hard to not let his excitement show.

“Not much… Uhm… D-Do you need something from me??” The girl on the other line asked.

“Huh?? Uhh, no!” The blond answered quickly, flustered.

“Oh uhm… If not then… I-I don’t know why you’d called me right now t-to be honest,” Kageyama answered hesitantly and the two other guys snickered; Atsumu’s cheeks flushed red again, this time from utter embarrassment.

“N-Nothing‼ H-Have a good night‼” Atsumu replied immediately and hung up the phone. Ojiro guffawed and almost fell out of his chair while Osamu was on the table laughing his head off; the blond looked at the two other guys with a scowl and punched them on the shoulder.

“Oh you got that girl’s number all right,” the ace wheezed while wiping a tear away from his eye. “But she doesn’t even know why on earth you’d call her!”

“That was the most awkward conversation I have ever heard in my life! You totally creeped her out, Tsumu,” Osamu chimed in with a pat on his twin’s shoulder before he had another laughing fit.

“I’ll murder the two of you in your sleep, just watch,” Atsumu snarled and left the room with this phone with a quick pace, leaving the other two boys laughing their butts off in the dining hall and skedaddled away when Kita approached them with a deadly expression on his face.

* * *

“Kageyama, what the hell was that?” Hinata rubbed her head which banged against the ground when the black-haired girl shoved her out of the way to get her phone back.

“Why did you answer my calls?” Kageyama demanded with a scowl.

“It was ringing so I just picked it up,” Hinata explained with a pout. “But you, on the other hand, have some explaining to do.”

“W-What?” Kageyama stuttered and moved backwards as the small girl inched closer to her face with an intimidating expression, like a police officer questioning a criminal.

“I was just joking but you actually asked him? And what did he say?” The orange-haired girl questioned, not backing away from Kageyama.

“He said okay, but only if I go on a date with him…” The black-haired girl trailed off, avoiding eye contact with the middle blocker. Hinata backed away from the setter and there was a moment of silence before she smacked Kageyama in the back and Kageyama yelped.

“How much of a volleyball idiot are you?? Did you actually think he’ll teach you? From the glances he threw at you during the match it seemed like he was about to devour you or something‼ I doubt you’d get any actual training with him,” Hinata said and tucked her arms across her chest.

“W-What do you mean? We made a deal though?” Kageyama said frantically; she turned to face the small girl quickly and grabbed her arm. “He has to teach me right?”

“Not everyone in this world is a simpleton like you! Guys have ulterior motives you know, especially when it comes to a pretty girl like you,” Hinata said a-matter-of-factly while drying her damp curls with a towel.

“H-How would you know that?! Hmmm… It’s not like you had more dating experiences than me and it doesn’t seem like you’re surrounded by guys, why should I listen to you?” Kageyama’s tone turned mischievous as she smirked at the orange-haired girl.

“W-What did you say?‼” The tiny middle blocker stood up angrily and launched herself at Kageyama, knocking the both of them on the ground.

“You two! Stop fighting‼ It’s time to go to bed!” Sugawara stepped in the room along with Michimiya.

“Suga‼ Kageyama is going on a date with that setter in Inarizaki‼” Hinata shrieked and Kageyama quickly slapped her hand over the smaller girl’s mouth; she scowled at the middle blocker while the orange-haired girl’s eyes were now crescent-shaped and a huge smile spread across her face from tattle-taling on the setter. The two third-years rushed to their side with their eyes widened in shock.

“Setter from Inarizaki?? Miya Atsumu??” Michimiya clamped her hand over her mouth with a gasp.

“Yeah! She’s going on a date with him in exchange for volleyball lesson—mmphhh‼” Hinata removed Kageyama’s hands from her mouth while she was caught off guard for a second and spoke, but the black-haired girl quickly placed both of her hands back on the middle blocker’s lips.

“Kageyama? Is this true?” Sugawara asked with a surprised expression on her face and Kageyama nodded with a blush.

“Didn’t he come to see our match?” Aihara chimed in with a towel draped over her light, ashy brown hair and everyone turned their heads to look at the ace.

“He did?” Michimiya said and Kageyama’s eyes widened in shock.

“Yeah, he was there with two other people from Inarizaki it seems, he keeps staring at Kageyama throughout the entire match,” Aihara commented nonchalantly while drying her hair with the towel.

“Wow, I didn’t even notice‼ As expected, Mao! You’re so sharp,” Michimiya praised the ace and she shrugged lazily and walked off to the other side of the room towards her bags.

“Looks like he’s interested in you, Kageyama!” Sugawara said excitedly and wiggled her eyebrows at the black-haired girl. “He totally seized this chance in hopes of getting closer to you.”

“I see… But why? I don’t think I’m anything special though…” Kageyama trailed off and the three girls surrounding her all sighed in unison.

“She’s still clueless isn’t she?” Sugawara commented with a small smile.

“Totally,” Michimiya said with a laugh.

“How annoying,” Hinata chimed in with a pout. “Because you are so freaking dense when it comes to boys or anything really, your fanboys approach me instead and have me take their love letters and gifts to give them to you‼ Do you know how many times I get bombarded with questions about you during break time?”

“Someone’s jealous because the guys approached her but only wants to talk about Kageyama,” Tsukishima entered the room with a smirk and Hinata scowled at the blonde.

“Here comes another miss popular,” Hinata muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes.

“Now, now. Let’s not fight, ok?” Sugawara pleaded with a smile and rubbed her hand on the orange-haired girl’s back to calm her down.

“Anyways, don’t worry Kageyama, I’ll accompany you on your date to make sure he doesn’t do anything,” Hinata stood up and said proudly.

“Why would you do that?” Kageyama said, confused.

“Because, if you get kidnapped or something, no one will toss to me. So for my sake you have to be safe,” the tiny middle blocker declared.

“Hinata you idiot‼” Kageyama yanked the smaller girl closer to her and put her in a headlock.

“I don’t think it’ll be as bad as you think, Hinata,” the captain said with a sheepish smile. “But we’ll text you once so often to make sure you’re ok though.”

“Got it!” Kageyama agreed while Hinata struggled to get her head out of the black-haired girl’s iron lock. _Damn her uselessly long arms_ , the middle blocker thought to herself.

“Alright girls! It’s 9:30 already! Time to go to bed!” Sugawara got up from the mat and the crowd of girls scattered to slip into their respective futons; the captain made sure everyone was in bed before turning off the lights.

* * *

“Ah… Waking up early in the morning and playing a full three sets match is the worst,” Michimiya sighed and the captain patted her back with a smile.

“There, there. You worked hard today, Yui,” Sugawara said and handed the wing spiker a towel. Karasuno’s match against Shinzen was the first one of the day, and the girls played a full 3 sets and won 2-1 against their opponent, advancing them to the fourth round of nationals. The captain looked at her team and everyone was trying to catch their breath as they slump down into their seats, including the usually energetic first year duo. If Hinata, who has the best stamina amongst the members in the team, is tired; that means everyone else is running dangerously low on energy. Their opponents keeps getting stronger and stronger with each round, and tomorrow they would be playing against the Itachiyama girls, who is just as strong of a team as the boys team. _I wonder if we’ll be able to make it past the fourth round_ , Sugawara thought to herself with a frown; her train of thoughts was disrupted when she felt someone peck her on the cheeks. The captain turned to find Sawamura smiling at her with his arm encircled her waist and she instantly felt a lot better after seeing her boyfriend.

“Congrats on winning again today,” Sawamura whispered in her ear and she chuckled lightly.

“Thank you,” Sugawara replied. “When’s your match today? We’ll go cheer you guys on.”

“Really? But shouldn’t you guys go see who you are playing against tomorrow?” The boy said while brushing a strand of hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear.

“We’re playing against Itachiyama. They played their match at the same time as we did but ended a lot earlier than ours,” Sugawara said with a sigh.

“Why the long face? You guys won,” The captain’s boyfriend pinched her cheeks lightly and she couldn’t help but grin.

“I know… But Itachiyama is so strong, I’m scared we’d lose,” The silver-haired girl sighed and lowered her head.

“Didn’t you tell me to have faith in myself and my teammates? You should too! Even if you guys really did end up losing, as long you played the match without a single regret, I think it’d be ok. So promise me you won’t worry too much about tomorrow and just do your best, ok?” Sawamura said with a warm smile.

“I promise,” Sugawara replied happily and the boys volleyball team captain leaned in for a kiss until they were disrupted by a loud, yelling voice and footsteps.

“OHHHH‼ KISSING IN PUBLIC??? YOU TWO SURE ARE BOLD,” Hinata exclaimed while standing next to Kageyama who was gulping down a carton of milk, not at all fazed by this whole situation.

“Haha‼ Nice one Shoyo‼” A new voice emerged and it was Nishinoya with the second years approaching the captain couple.

“Noya-senpai‼” Hinata’s eyes twinkled when she heard the voice and hopped over to greet the boys team's libero.

“Congrats on winning‼ I knew you could do it!” Nishinoya held up a hand and Hinata returned to high five with a large smile. The pair were quite close as Nishinoya took care of Hinata like an older brother and Hinata looked up to the libero for his amazing receiving skills; Nishinoya even claimed that he unofficially adopted Hinata as his little sister and the duo were especially skilled at poking fun at the captain couple.

“Thanks‼ Who are you guys playing today??” Hinata asked happily.

“Inarizaki,” Nishinoya replied and the orange-haired girl immediately turned her head to look at Kageyama, who was now finished with her milk carton and went to toss it in the trash.

“Oh really?? I hope you guys win‼” Hinata resumed her happy tone and chimed.

“Thanks, Shoyo‼” Nishinoya said with a wide grin and ruffled Hinata’s curls. The captain couple look at the two and shook their head before continuing where they left off.

“Hey,” Kageyama turned around to find the source of the voice after she threw the carton into the trash can to see the tall, blonde setter of Inarizaki she met yesterday approaching her with a soft grin.

“Sorry about yesterday,” Atsumu said with an apologetic smile and scratched his head; he was wearing the same black jacket with the school’s name printed in the back and a large gym bag on his shoulder.

“Huh? Oh!... No, it’s ok,” Kageyama said after remembering what exactly happened yesterday.

“Are you coming to watch our match today? I’ll be very happy if you come and cheer us on,” the blond said while leaning closer to the black-haired girl and practically whispered the last part in her ear, which caused her cheeks to turn into a bright shade of red reminiscent of a tomato.

“I am, but I can’t cheer your team on, because my school is playing against you guys today,” Kageyama declared after she snapped back into her senses.

“Ahh, I see,” Atsumu sighed with a pout. “Well, that can’t be helped then. Can I at least get you to wish me luck?”

“No, I can’t. If I do that my team will lose,” Kageyama said sternly, her arms folded across her chest.

“I didn’t know you were so stingy, Tobio. I guess I’ll be stingy too and just teach you only the basics of the serves instead of the cool tricks I do,” Atsumu said nonchalantly and turned to walk in the opposite direction. _Please stop me_ , Atsumu thought desperately as he continued to take more steps but there was no signs of Kageyama following behind. _Please._ He was suddenly caught off guard when Kageyama tackled him from behind, her arms wrapped around his waist in attempt to catch him; Atsumu froze in his place and felt his cheeks burn up at the sight of Kageyama back-hugging him. The black-haired girl quickly let go of him after he stopped and manually turned him around to face her; her eyebrows furrowed and her lips were in a pout as she cupped his cheeks with her hands, fixing his face so he looked at her straight in the eyes while standing on her toes. Atsumu felt as if he has been doused in kerosene and lighted on fire with every single one of her touch against his bare skin; it was truly his first time feeling as if he was going to combust from looking at a person any longer.

“Good luck, but I still hope Karasuno will win against you guys, sorry,” Kageyama said carefully while staring intently into his amber-coloured eyes. She freed the blond’s cheeks from her hands and stood with her feet flat on the ground again with an apologetic smile and left.

“Ohhhhh…” Atsumu clutched onto his chest and he felt his legs becoming like jelly, ready to give out anytime. His eyes were still fixed on the black-haired girl’s silhouette as she disappeared into the crowd of people, his heart drummed against his ribcage so loudly that he was afraid that the entire world would hear it.

“Hey, earth to Atsumu,” Ojiro said while waving his hand in front of the stunned boy’s eyes.

“H-Huh?” Atsumu barely regained consciousness and saw his teammates surround by him.

“What happened? Did you see a ghost or someone that’s 2 meters?” Osamu said with his usual blank expression, already used to his twin’s overdramatic reactions.

“T-That girl…” The blond stuttered.

“What girl? Did you get rejected by one and it hit you that hard?” Ojiro questioned and felt a punch in the arm by Atsumu, who recovered to his usual self after hearing that insult.

“Shut up,” Atsumu scowled and walked towards the entrance of the arena. The blond’s heart was still racing and he was having trouble catching his breath; he felt utterly vulnerable at the moment and this was a new side of him he didn’t need anyone, especially people who could read him like a book such as his twin and Kita. After dropping the bags next the bench on the ground, he headed towards the washroom and splashed his face with cold water. _Why the hell can’t you calm down?_ Atsumu thought to himself and his hand clutched onto the side of the porcelain sink. _You have a match in 15 minutes yet you can’t stop thinking about some girl—_

Atsumu snapped his body backwards into upright standing position and looked at himself in the mirror. He couldn’t recall the last time he was _this_ flustered by anything a person did. He’s been popular amongst the opposite sex ever since he was little; he had long gave up on counting the number of girls he had dated and dumped. Yet, this feeling, this sensation was completely new — and this is because there wasn’t anyone like _her_. Kageyama Tobio wasn’t just _some girl_ , she was special. Atsumu couldn’t figure out what this new feeling is for the life of him, but he decided that he’ll just run along with it and see how far it’ll take him. He turned off the tap with a confident smile and ran back to the arena, his eyes searching for _the girl_ amongst the mass of people in the audience and felt a rush of adrenaline when he finally saw her. Atsumu’s burning desire for winning was suddenly amplified; he wanted to impress her, to show her how capable he is, to have her even more stunned by what he is able to do on court. _He wanted to win_.

 

 

 

 

* * *

Here are some of the haikyuu character genderbend fanarts I used while I was writing the fic! Credit goes to @50125m on twitter! ~~they are so freaking adorable I cry~~  (the artist is Korean so I have no idea if she said not to post her works outside of the platform she posted them, if anyone knows that's the case, please let me know and I'll remove it asap!) 

 


	3. Three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back with another chapter :D tbh I'm not all that satisfied with this chapter since I keep falling into slumps and not knowing what I'm even writing anymore while working on this chapter, so I'm sorry if its not really up to par with the last two chapters, I promise I'll work harder on the next one!! As usual, I am absolutely grateful for all the kudos and comments you guys have left for me; they motivate me to keep writing and spit out chapters asap so I want to thank all of you once again and please do keep them coming ╥_╥ ♥ Just as a heads up, I probably will be updating even less from now on since a new semester started and I'll just get busier from there, but it's my goal to at least write a little per day and I should be able to post once a week?? That's what I'm hoping and aiming for at the moment so please don't beat me up if I fail to do so >﹏<  
> The beginning of this chapter is day 4 of nationals, which means the Karasuno vs. Inarizaki match has already ended (which is where last chapter left off) and the girls just finished playing their 4th game, I'm mentioning this now just in case if it's kind of confusing!! You'll also see the result of that match in this chapter which is totally made up (since we don't know if Karasuno or Inarizaki won in the manga yet), and I think that's all I have to say about this chapter!! As usual I left some fanarts from Pinterest that I used as inspiration for this chapter :D Happy reading ♥

“Hey, Hinata, Kageyama. Let’s go, it’s time to line up,” Sugawara spoke softly as she placed her arms around the duo that remained crouched over on the ground. The sound of the whistle to them, for this match and this last set, was the symbol of doom. They have fought hard to the very last minute, despite exhaustion kicking in and their limbs giving out on them; however, the goddess of luck was not on Karasuno’s side today, and Itachiyama remained victorious. They had played three full sets, taking the scores to the 30s for each set but inevitably lost the last one to the powerhouse school in Tokyo. Sugawara helped Hinata back on her legs again and the small middle blocker held up an arm to cover her eyes as she walked with the captain. Kageyama bit down on her lip, desperately trying to hold back the tears that threaten to fall from her eyes any second now; her hands clenched into fists and her nails dug into the palms, leaving little crescent marks on the skin. Michimiya placed an arm around Kageyama and rubbed her shoulder to comfort her; at the moment it felt as if Kageyama was wearing a brick around her neck, making it impossible to lift her head up to look at the opponents in the face as they bowed and thanked the other team and then to the audiences.

The coach didn’t say any more words besides “good work” and “let’s go eat” when the teamed gathered and board the bus; they arrived at a ramen shop and none of the girls had appetite to eat until the coach urged them to eat up. The girls’ tears started pouring as they ate, but Kageyama remained expressionless as she fed a noodle at a time into her mouth, taking what it seems to be an eternity to grind her teeth together to crush the food and finally swallow it; she didn’t feel like moving a single muscle in her body, she wanted to just sit there and stare into space until the pain eventually dissipated into nothingness. Perhaps she has been so used to winning and being victorious that she forgot what it feels like to lose and be in pain? Had she been so greedy, always lusting for victory that she’s finally getting punished for it? If that’s the case, then so be it; she regret nothing besides not being able to play another match and show more people what her and her team are made out of.

“There’s no practice over the weekend and on Monday, use this time to recuperate and heal, got it? You’re all dismissed,” the coach said after they unloaded everything from the bus and the team bowed. The girls begin to leave one by one, except Hinata and Kageyama who both stared at the banner “congrats to boys and girls volleyball team for representing Miyagi in national high school volleyball tournament‼” that hung high from the school’s roof.

“The boys must’ve been like us yesterday,” Hinata sighed; the boys team was also eliminated after losing to Inarizaki 1-2 and packed their bags to return to Miyagi a day ahead of the girls. “We promised them we’ll fight till the very end and get into the top 3…”

“We did fight till the very end… But there wasn’t anything that we could do,” Kageyama spoke slowly and Hinata nodded in response; they both turned around and walked towards the exit of the school without another word. Hinata suddenly came to a halt and patted Kageyama on the shoulder; the black-haired girl lifted her head to look at the middle blocker and waited for her to say something but got no response. The orange-haired girl simply pointed her fingers in the direction of the gate and Kageyama’s eyes followed to find a familiar figure.

“I’ll get going now, see ya,” Hinata said as she hopped on her bike and left from the other exit of the school.

“What are you doing here?” She asked as the approaching person stopped in front of her.

“Let me walk you home,” Oikawa said simply.

“It’s ok, I can go by myself,” Kageyama said quietly and proceed to swerve around the Seijoh captain until he stepped sideways and blocked her path.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk, just pretend I’m not there… But I want to make sure you get home safely,” the boy said with a soft voice and Kageyama nodded hesitantly; she was too exhausted to put up a fight or argue with the older boy, and decided to just let him be.

“Why’d you come all the way to Karasuno just to walk me home?” Kageyama turned to look at Oikawa and asked slowly after the two have been walking for a while.

“Because you and I are actually more similar than you think, Tobio,” Oikawa said and looked at Kageyama, his gaze was soft and almost comforting. They were now standing at the top of a hill, looking at the sky that was painted in beautiful shades of yellows, reds and oranges by the sunset.

“Both you and I… After losing a match, we don’t cry even if it feels like tears are going to fall at any moment, and we hold in the frusturation and anger until we are isolated, then we cry our hearts out. But you know what? I found that it’s better to cry with or cry to somebody, and I want to be that ‘somebody’ that you could cry to after losing a match, because I know exactly what you are feeling… I have been through this too many times than I would’ve liked, not gonna lie,” Oikawa said softly and finished with a light chuckle. Kageyama lowered her head again, but this time large droplets of tears begin to stream down her cheeks like a broken faucet; she buried her face in her palms as she continued to sob. Oikawa turned to face the black-haired girl and took her into his embrace, wrapping his arms around her waist and rested his cheek on the top of her head.

“There you go, just cry, it’s ok,” Oikawa whispered and patted her back gently with one arm and the other remained wrapped tightly around her. Kageyama had removed her hands from her face and let them droop to the sides as she sobbed into the captain’s shirt. Oikawa pressed his lips against her hair and closed his eyes; he didn’t mean to use comforting her as an excuse for the skinship, but the moment he saw Kageyama broke down crying he couldn’t help but want to pull her into his embrace. He desperately wanted to be the person who she could cry freely to, the person that could drive her sadness away, and the person that could make her happy…

“Do you feel better?” Oikawa asked as he reluctantly loosened his arms after Kageyama had stopped crying and wiped the remaining tear off her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. Kageyama nodded while she rubbed her eyes with her hands aggressively, but Oikawa took her hand off her puffy eyes and placed his handkerchief in her palm instead.

“Don’t rub your eyes with your hands, use this instead,” the captain said softly with a frown.

“Thank you, Oikawa senpai,” Kageyama said with a sniffle and held the handkerchief up to her face to blot the lingering tears from her eyes.

“I said not to be so formal with me, did I not?” Oikawa scolded and lightly flicked her forehead with his finger. Kageyama winced a little at the stinging sensation and held up a hand to rub the pinkish patch of skin with a scowl; the captain chuckled lightly and grabbed onto the black-haired girl’s wrist and pull her along. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

* * *

Atsumu bit his lower lip and looked at his dimly lit phone screen with great concentration before he let out a loud groan and crashing onto his bed at the hotel. He ran his fingers through the dyed-blond locks and closed his eyes; it’s only been a day and a half since he last talked to her before the Inarizaki vs Karasuno match and he desperately wanted to hear Kageyama’s voice or see her face again. He rolled over to rest on his side and reached for the smartphone again; his finger hovered over the “call” button then to the “text” button and let out a series of frusturated and incoherent yelling as he threw the phone across the bed angrily.

“What are you annoyed about now?” Ojiro walked out of the bathroom in t-shirt and sweatpants with a towel hung around his neck.

“Ughhhhh‼ I don’t know‼” Atsumu yelled and drummed his fist against the bed repeatedly while kicking his feet in the air.

“Stop throwing fits like a kindergardener, you look stupid,” Osamu said as he walked to the bed next to his twin’s, prepared to go to sleep but got a flying kick from the blond instead. The older twin fell onto his bed and rubbed his back with a grimace as the blond slumped into a chair with a dejected expression on the face.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Why do you actually look sad? Thought you don’t give a crap about anything else,” Osamu asked apathetically while looking at his phone. Kita entered the room after he finished circulating the dining hall and lobby to make sure no one is still there or left anything behind. By a twist of fate, Kita ended up rooming with Ojiro and the Miya twins for their stay in Tokyo; he was slightly annoyed that he had to sleep in the same room with the noisy troublemaking twins, but he thought it was for the best as the twins were, to a certain degree, afraid of Kita and wouldn’t be pulling as much shenanigans as compared to when they roomed with other people.

“I don’t… But not when it comes to her,” Atsumu sighed with a small pout and his twin looked up from his phone with an expression of incredulity.

“What? You mean Kageyama Tobio?” The older twin exclaimed and everyone in the room turned to look at the sulking setter.

“You literally met her not even a week ago and you are that hung up about her? Whatever happened to ‘oh, I’d never let a girl get to me’?” Ojiro said and sat down on his bed.

“Yeah, but she’s different. I never felt like I was going to die if I don’t see or talk to a girl up until now,” Atsumu sighed and looked at his phone once again.

“Well, text or call her already instead of throwing fits or whatever you have been doing for the past 10 minutes?” The ace suggested and Atsumu sent a disapproving ‘tsk’ in his direction.

“It’s not as easy as you think! We literally just beat her school’s boy volleyball team yesterday and her team lost this morning, do you really think she’d want to talk to me right now?” The blond argued and Ojiro let out an exasperated sigh.

“Kita, what do you think?” Ojiro turned to Kita who just finished folding his uniform and towels neatly into a pile. The twins shifted their attention to the captain and waited for him to ignore the ace or say something completely unrelated to this matter.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you called to cheer her up or comfort her? She might think of you in a more positive light if you show that you care about her,” Kita spoke with his usual expressionless face after staring at the three boys without saying anything for a few seconds. The twins froze in their place with widened eyes, shocked at the response the captain gave.

“Woahhh‼ Kita, you’re a genius!” Atsumu exclaimed and jumped from his seat with glistening eyes. He dived onto his bed to retrieve his abandoned phone and prepared to dail the number before Kita walked over and snatched the blond’s device from his hand.

“Go talk outside, people are trying to sleep in here. Also, you better not spend all night talking to her just because tomorrow’s the weekend and there’s no tournaments. We still have practice and you’re dead meat if you are late to that,” Kita said sternly before handing the phone back to its owner.

“Yes sir‼” Atsumu quickly got up on his feet and saluted the captain before he dashed towards the door and left the room. Kita got back to his bed and placed the pile of clean laundry he folded into his bag as if nothing happened while Ojiro chuckled at the captain and shook his head. The ace turned his attention to the other twin who’s scrolling through his phone with a bored expression while lying on the bed.

“Man, ain’t this a first? Him being so hung up about a girl,” Ojiro mused as he looked at the door and Osamu looked up from his phone.

“Who knows? It probably won’t last, knowing the kind of person he is,” Osamu yawned as he placed his phone on the bedside table before pulling the blanket over his head and fell asleep. Ojiro shrugged and laid down before he asked Kita to turn off the lights.

 

Atsumu walked to a deserted hallway on their hotel floor and leaned against the wall as he pressed the “call” button on the phone. He sighed as he waited for the call to go through and with each ring he got more and more anxious. _It’s only 10 so I don’t think I’m calling too late??_ Atsumu thought to himself. _But what if she’s asleep already? I mean I know nothing about her so I wouldn’t know when she usually goes to sleep—_

“Hello?” A voice sounded from the other line and it caught Atsumu off guard. He snapped out of his train of thoughts and cleared his throat, trying to maintain his composure.

“H-Hello? H-Hey‼ How’s it going?” Atsumu straightened his back and asked.

“N-Not much,” Kageyama replied quietly with a faint sniffle and Atsumu frowned. From her tone it was clear that she has been crying and it tugged on his heartstrings. His eyebrows furrowed and bit his lower lip as he frantically went through a list of things to say to comfort the girl in his head.

“H-Hey, sorry about your loss and sorry for uhm… beating your school’s boy volleyball team…” Atsumu trailed off. The silence that followed on the other line was absolutely suffocating and it killed him little by little as each second passed without hearing the girl’s voice.

“N-No no, it’s ok… Congratulations on your win,” the voice spoke softly and it revived the setter. He cleared his throat once again and gripped onto his phone tightly.

“Thank you... Uhm, how are you feeling now?” Atsumu said in a slightly more cheery tone in hopes to change the flow of this conversation.

“I-I’m ok now… I was really upset this afternoon but a senpai came and comforted me so I feel better now… I think,” Kageyama said hesitantly and the blond was glad that she was talking a little bit more. _Now’s your chance_ , Atsumu thought to himself. _Ask her anything, do whatever you need to keep the conversation going._

“Oh, a senpai from your school?” Atsumu asked.

“No… He goes to another high school, but we went to the same middle school,” Kageyama spoke and the blond froze at the word “him”. To Atsumu, a guy comforting a crying Kageyama was quite a disturbing image and he felt a surge of jealousy rush through him.

“Ah… Does he play volleyball too?” The blond tried to ask in a casual tone.

“Yes, he’s the captain of his team,” the black-haired girl responded on the other line. _Captain huh? Well, ain’t he a hotshot,_ Atsumu thought to himself mockingly.

“Cool! What school does he play? What position?” The blond pressed on without him realizing he was getting fired up.

“He plays for Aoba Johsai… It’s a powerhouse school in Miyagi, and he’s a setter,” Kageyama answered obediently. Atsumu quickly searched up “captain of Aoba Johsai” on the search engine and a good number of articles and interviews of this senpai popped up to his surprise. _Oikawa Tooru?? Never heard of him_ , Atsumu scoffed as he scrolled through the search results. “Young and promising setter” and “handsome captain of Aoba Johsai” were some of the words that was used repetitively in several articles about him and the blond was getting irritated. _One of the best setter in the prefecture, eh? But he isn’t the number 1 setter in the nation now is he?_ Atsumu thought to himself and his lips curled into a smug smile.

“I see… So, how did he cheer you up?” The blond asked as he continued to go through Oikawa’s profile.

“Uhm… He told me it’s better to cry with someone rather than holding it in, so I let it all out while he hugged me. I feel kinda bad for getting his clothes dirty though…” the voice on the other line recalled. _That sly bastard_ , Atsumu thought to himself when he heard that senpai comforted her with a hug. He felt his blood pressure rising the more he look at this stupid Oikawa and quickly exited the tab.

“Hmm… Want me to teach you a better way to cheer up?” The blond suggested.

“Oh? What is it?” Kageyama asked innocently.

“Just talk about nothing with someone,” he said a-matter-of-factly.

“Huh? W-What does that mean?” She replied with a hint of confusion in her voice.

“You know, just talk about really trivial stuff like your favourite colour, favourite food, how many siblings do you have, your happiest day… I find that helps you stop dwelling on stuff that makes you sad,” Atsumu explained.

“Oh?...” The voice sounded somewhat interested and the blond was pleased. _I won’t lose to that stupid senpai_ , he thought smugly and leaned against the wall with a wide grin on his face.

“Here, let me start things off. Hmm… Where are you right now?” The blond asked.

“My house?” replied the voice and he chuckled.

“I see… But you’re supposed to give me more details in your answer! Like are you sitting at the kitchen table or on the floor of your bedroom?” Atsumu mused.

“Uh… I’m lying on my bed right now in my bedroom,” Kageyama replied and Atsumu tried to picture the black-haired girl curled up into a ball in her blankets, talking to him in the dimly lit bedroom while everyone in the house is asleep; the blond smiled to himself when he thought this is actually kind of romantic.

“Ok, next! What do you like to do in your free time?” He asked with enthusiasm.

“Play volleyball,” she answered earnestly and the blond chuckled.

“Ahh, I see… What do you want to be in the future?” Atsumu continued to ask.

“A professional volleyball player,” Kageyama said.

“What’s the best gift you have ever gotten?” The boy inquired.

“Really amazing supporters that are not only good for reducing frictions but also for thermal insulation‼ They have these really soft shock-absorbent pads in the supporter that makes it fit nice and snugly around your knee!” The black-haired girl explained passionately and Atsumu was surprised at how excited she sounded when it comes to volleyball, as if nothing makes her happier than the sports itself.

“What is one thing you can’t live without?” He asked.

“Volleyball,” Kageyama answered and Atsumu couldn’t help himself but laughed out loud.

“W-What?” The girl returned to her normal, quiet voice with a hint of uncertainty.

“Just how much do you love volleyball?” The blond asked as he stifled a laugh.

“I like it… A lot… I like it the most out of anything,” Kageyama said sheepishly on the other line.

“Well, that’s good! It’s good to have something you are passionate about, right?” Atsumu said.

“Yes! Don’t you feel the same way about volleyball too? Didn’t your love for the sports make you the number one setter in the country?” She asked enthusiastically and the blond was taken aback by her sudden question. Atsumu realized he never really thought about whether he liked volleyball or not, he’s just been playing with his twin ever since they were little. He continued because he was actually quite good at the sport and also the desire to win not only against his brother, but everyone else in the prefecture was spreading like a wildfire inside of him; the taste of victory was too sweet for him to give it up. 

“I don’t know if I really like volleyball, to be honest. But I do like the feeling of winning and hate the feeling of losing more than anything,” he said after a while and chuckled lightly. “I don’t think my motive for playing volleyball is as pure and good as yours, Tobio.”

“Hmm… I think everyone has different motives for playing, right? Whether you do it because you want to be the best at something, or you do it because someone inspired you to play, or you just purely like the sport… If the desire of winning motivates you to do your best and give your all, I don’t see what’s so bad about it,” Kageyama replied thoughtfully. The setter froze in his place for a few seconds and closed his eyes with a smile after hearing her words.

“Oh, uhm… Did I talk too much? I-I’m sorry—” The voice on the other line started.

“Y’know, you’re pretty great of a girl, you know that?” Atsumu cut in as he reopened his eyes.

“Oh! U-Uhh, t-thank you…” Kageyama replied shyly from the other line and the blond smiled at her response. At the moment, Atsumu was pretty convinced that he’s talking to the cutest girl in the world and that makes him feel like he’s luckiest person in the world.

“Moving along! What’s your worst school subject?” The second year asked.

“Hmm… probably modern literature,” Kageyama responded with a sigh which piqued the blond’s interest.

“What’s wrong?” Atsumu inquired with a laugh

“Last time when my team was invited to Tokyo to play practice matches with 4 other high schools there, Hinata and I couldn’t go because I failed modern literature while she failed English and had to attend supplementary classes. It was absolutely the worst seeing the rest of the team leave without us…” The first year explained with a shudder.

“Seriously? That’s so stupid! Can’t they move the supplementary classes to another time??” Atsumu exclaimed with disbelief.

“That’s what we said too! We even begged the dean,” Kageyama agreed and continued. “But you see, the dean doesn’t really like us or the team because Hinata and I knocked his wig off and—…”

 

“…the cat scratched me when I tried to offer it food, so I feel like animals don’t really like me,” the voice on the other line replied. Atsumu had lost track of how many questions did he ask or how long have they been talking. Within that period of time he found out that Kageyama’s favourite food is pork curry with an egg on top, her habit is to have a milk or yogurt drink at least twice a day, she started playing volleyball when she was in second grade, the reason why she went to Karasuno, how she doesn’t own any article of clothings that are not in either black, grey or navy, and more. Atsumu could tell she was getting more and more sleepy as the number of times she yawned increased and how her responses started to get sloppier, but he didn’t want to hang up the phone just yet; _one more question_ was what he told himself everytime but one turned into two and two turned into three and etcetera. The list of questions he has yet to ask her kept on growing at an uncontrollable speed and he knew he wouldn’t be satisfied until his thirst for knowledge has been quenched.

“Hmm… Next, when’s your birthday?” Atsumu asked.

“De…Desem...blur….” Kageyama mumbled from the other line. “Twan….ty….Seh….cand….”

“W-What’s that?” Atsumu responded after failing to decipher what she was saying. There was no response from the other line.

“Hello? Tobio?” The setter asked as he held the phone closer to his ear to hear a soft, faint snore-like noise that made the blond smile. He checked the time on his device to find that it’s already 1 in the morning and let out a small gasp. _Kita’s gonna kill me tomorrow_ , Atsumu thought to himself; but it’s not like he really cared about getting slaughtered by the captain and he definitely was not even close to regretting sacrificing 4 hours of his sleep to talk to Kageyama.

“Goodnight, Tobio,” Atsumu whispered and finally pressed the “end call” button reluctantly. The feeling of longing for somebody and emptiness after not talking or seeing the person was completely new to Atsumu; despite talking to Kageyama for the past 4 hours, the moment he couldn’t hear her voice anymore made him feel desolate and bereft. The blond quietly entered the pitch black room, slipped into his bed and quickly fell asleep with his hand still holding onto the phone.

 

 

 

 

* * *

Here's some fem!Kageyama and Oikawa fanarts for this chapter :D Enjoy!! (if the credit is wrong please let me know so I can fix it!!)

(this picture is linked to the twitter account @lemon_kakete on Pinterest, but I'm not exactly sure if its the artist!!)

(art by https://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=2169962)

 

 


	4. Four.

Atsumu looked out of the window at the Tokyo scenery from his seat, his arm propped against the base of the window frame and his hand rested on his cheek with a wide grin spread across his face. Kita did a thorough check at the bags and the team to make sure no one was missing before informing the coach that they were good to go. The bus started moving and Atsumu sneaked a peak at his twin sitting next to him, who had his eyes closed and arms crossed in front of his chest, then at the rest of the team. The bus was oddly quiet despite the fact that they had just defeated Itachiyama, the previous champion of nationals for many years straight. After playing a full five set game with each set’s score in the 30s, everyone was absolutely exhausted and passed out the moment they got on the bus to return to Hyogo. It thrilled Atsumu that his team was no longer second, but _first_ in the entire nation. _Of course, the number 1 setter has to be in the number 1 high school team in Japan, it only makes sense_ , the blond thought to himself smugly while grinning from ear to ear.

“Stop smiling so much, it makes you look creepy as hell,” Osamu critized and that made the blond jump in his seat.

“S-Shut up, dumbass‼ It’s normal to be happy,” Atsumu glared angrily at his twin but returned to his smile shortly after as if he couldn’t stand being angry for even a second because he was just so incredibly happy. He turned his entire body around to face the captain who’s sitting directly behind him with enthusiasm.

“Kita, do we still have practices for this weekend? No right?” Atsumu asked excitedly.

“Not for everyone except you,” Kita said without looking up from the Biology textbook he was staring intently for the past 20 minutes.

“W-What?? Why am I the only one having to practice??” The blond exclaimed in disbelief and the captain closed his textbook.

“Because you are the only one who has been late to the past weekend’s morning practice especially when I warned you not to be late,” Kita said in an indifferent tone.

“I’m sorry! I overslept,” Atsumu admitted sheepishly.

“I told you not to stay up all night talking to that girl, did I not??” The captain inquired sharply and chills ran down the setter’s spine which made him shudder.

“I didn’t stay up all night, only up to 1AM though…” Atsumu mumbled quietly, his eyes focused on the textbook to avoid the captain’s icy glare. Kita opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Ojiro who sat next to the captain.

“Oh yeah, how’re things with you and Kageyama Tobio?” Ojiro butted in and Kita sighed in response before returning his attention to a picture of the human heart illustrated on the textbook.

“We’ve been chatting almost everyday and we even exchanged LINE,” Atsumu declared proudly as he held the phone in front of the third year’s face with Kageyama’s profile displayed on the screen.

_2 days ago_

_“Hey Tobio, do you have LINE?”_ Atsumu asked as he leaned against the wall in that same hallway as when they first started talking over the phone.

_“LINE?? What’s that?...”_ Kageyama asked from the other line.

_“It’s a messaging app! You can talk with your friends on there and send pictures, videos, voice clips and funny stickers on there! I use it everyday,”_ The blond explained.

_“I see… How is that different from texting though?...”_ The voice replied.

_“You can’t do all the things I just described with texting, talking to people on LINE is much more fun. I’m sure a lot of your friends with a smartphone have it too!”_ Atsumu remarked.

_“Ohh… ok! I just downloaded it, what do I do next?”_ Kageyama inquired.

_“First make an account, then you can add me. My username is miya_atsumu105,”_ the setter instructed.

_“Ok, done!”_ The black-haired girl answered and Atsumu checked his phone to see a notification from the app saying he received a friend request. He opened the app to see the name “Kageyama Tobio” with a picture of a volleyball as her profile picture and let out a small laugh.

_“Cute profile picture,”_ Atsumu commented.

_“Yeah… I don’t know what to use as a profile picture so I thought a picture of my favourite volleyball would be ok,”_ Kageyama replied. _“I-Is it too weird?”_

_“No no, I like it,”_ the blond reassured with a chuckle. _She really is a volleyball idiot_ , he thought to himself with a smile. _But I like it. A lot._

 

“LINE?? Does she have a profile picture?? Lemme see,” the ace snatched the phone from the blond and widened his eyes in disbelief.

“A volleyball? A freaking volleyball is her profile picture??” Ojiro exclaimed in a disapproving tone.

“I know! Isn’t it great? It’s Mikasa too, looks like there’s another thing we have in common,” Atsumu sighed happily and Osamu shook his head.

“Uhm, congrats on liking the same brand of volleyball as her?” The third year said in a mocking tone. “Seriously, she could have thousands of boys adding her on LINE if she used her face as a profile picture.”

“Which is exactly why I’m glad she used a good ol’ volleyball instead of her precious face,” Atsumu cooed and Osamu effortlessly snatched the phone from his twin brother’s hands while he was still fawning over Karasuno’s setter.

“Why are her responses so dry? And she doesn’t seem to know a thing you talked to her about, whether its pop stars, tech gadgets, trends, or politics,” Osamu said nonchalantly while scrolling through the chat.

“Hey! Give that back!” Atsumu plucked the phone from his twin’s grip angrily. “She’s just too immersed in volleyball to care about anything else.”

“That’s not like you, dude. You absolutely can’t stand it when girls are airheads or doesn’t know a thing you are talking about. You ditch them immediately regardless of how pretty they are because you don’t have the patience to deal with them,” Ojiro questioned with his eyebrows furrowed.

“She’s not an airhead! I’ll have you know that she’s very smart and wise,” Atsumu snapped back.

“Man, you really haven’t been like yourself lately, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” the ace commented.

“True, maybe he’ll actually stop being a douche and live as a decent human being for once thanks to her,” Osamu chimed in and got a smack in the head by the younger twin. Atsumu slumped back into his seat and stared at the phone screen with the chat between him and Kageyama still open.

“Haven’t been myself eh?...” The blond murmured to himself.

* * *

Kageyama dragged her tired feet as she climbed up the stairs to her bedroom and dropped her bag to the other side of the room before crashing onto the bed with her limbs stretched out. She freed her long, black hair that was tied tightly into a neat ponytail as she pulled off the black hairtie and threw it on the bedside table. It’s been exactly a week since the girls lost to Itachiyama in the fourth round of nationals, and they have been training incessantly ever since they returned to Miyagi; especially Hinata and Kageyama, who has been staying overtime everyday to practice together until 8 PM. With the third years graduating in 2 months’ time, Hinata was determined to fulfill Aihara’s space as the team’s ace. In order to get their revenge at nationals next year, they couldn’t afford to fall behind for even a second especially when every school is only getting stronger and stronger with time. Kageyama sighed and turned to rest on her side when she heard a _bzzt_ sound from her jacket; she rolled to the other side of the bed to reach for the jacket and unzipped the pocket to free her phone to see that she got a  LINE notification from Atsumu. Kageyama’s eyes widened at the message from the setter and sat up immediately from her bed; she gulped and swiftly tapped on the keyboard of the phone with her thumbs to write a message.

_Tobio: Congratulations‼_

_Atsumu: Thank you ^_^ I’m really happy right now‼ I wish I could talk right now but we’re still on the bus back to Hyogo and everyone’s asleep_

A picture was sent shortly after the boy’s message and it was an image of him holding a peace sign with everyone else on the bus sleeping. A video clip was sent to the chat and Kageyama pressed the play button to see a boy who looked identical to Atsumu but with silver in the frame. The camera zoomed in closer to the sleeping boy and in the background there was a loud snoring noise. Kageyama giggled at the video and typed another message.

_Tobio: Haha, your brother?_

_Atsumu: Yup! He snores so loudly it’s actually unreal. I had to listen to that for the past 16 years of my life_ (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

_Tobio: Aww I see… Aren’t you tired?_

_Atsumu: Nah, I tried to sleep but I couldn’t... Plus, I find you more interesting than sleeping right now_ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡ – ✧)

_Tobio: Really? The moment I get on the bus I fall asleep…_

_Atsumu: oh, by the way, Tobio_

_Tobio: Yes??_

_Atsumu: Are you free this weekend?_

_Tobio: I have practice tomorrow morning, but I’m free all day on Sunday._

_Atsumu: Ahh perfect. I was thinking it’s time to go on our date… How does Sunday sound?_

Kageyama froze at the word “date”; she had almost forgot about the deal they made approximately two weeks ago. _After I go on the date he’ll finally teach me how to play, right??_ The black-haired girl thought to herself excitedly. She redirected her attention back to the phone and replied to the message.

_Tobio: ok! But… where are we meeting? We live in different prefectures…_

_Atsumu: I’ll take the train up there on Sunday morning, no worries!_

_Tobio: You’re coming to Miyagi??_

_Atsumu: Yup‼ When I get home I’ll search up some places in Miyagi that I can take you to_ (๑꧆◡꧆๑)

_Tobio: You should get some rest when you get home, so leave that to me. I should be the one showing you around since I live here…_

_Atsumu: Ah I see... Ok! Thank you so much Tobio! Just text me the location tomorrow so I can figure out how to go from the station to the meeting place_

_Tobio: I’ll pick you up from the station too._

_Atsumu: For reals?? You’re so sweet Tobio~_ (≧∇≦)

_Atsumu: Ah, gotta go now. Our bus just arrived the school, talk to you later‼_

_Tobio: bye bye._

Kageyama turned off the phone and laid back down on the bed with her eyes closed as she tried to come up with a list of places that she knows in Miyagi. After 10 minutes, she sat back up in her bed, eyes widened in horror and launched herself at her laptop computer while she realized the only places she knew were Karasuno high, Sendai Municipal Gymnasium, Sakanoshita shop, the local grocery store, and her house. None of them were suitable to bring Atsumu to and she quickly typed “top locations for dates in Miyagi” in the search engine. The black-haired girl clicked into the first website that popped up in the search results and it listed top 10 spots for couples to go on dates in Sendai. _Wait, but we aren’t a couple??_ Kageyama thought to herself and quickly exited the website and continued to browse the web for another good 2 hours before she fell asleep at her desk.

* * *

“Nice kill!” Kageyama said as Hinata spiked the ball over to the net. To normal people, sleeping in till noon is how they’d like to spend their Saturday mornings; but to the first year duos, nothing kicks off the weekend morning like a good practice.

“Alright, take a 10 minute break! You guys will be doing serving practices next,” the coach said and everyone scattered to grab a drink, go to the washroom or wipe the sweat off their faces.

“Thanks, Hitoka!” Hinata said with a smile as their manager handed a water bottle to her and Kageyama.

“Hinata, Kageyama. You two are in tip top conditions today! Nice kill,” Sugawara said with a smile as she approached to the first year duo with the three other third years that just retired.

“Suga‼ What brings you guys here?” The orange-haired girl ran up to the ex-captain and hugged her.

“We came to check out how the team is doing without us, and it seems like you guys are better than ever,” Sugawara pouted.

“That’s not true!” Kageyama exclaimed and Sugawara smiled as she patted the setter’s head.

“I see Sudou is doing a good job as captain and you two are energetic as ever, I’m glad,” Sugawara said and waved to other members of the club as they crowded around the third years.

“So, Kageyama, how are things with that setter from Inarizaki?” Michimiya nudged the first year and asked with a wink. Everyone in the club turned to look at Kageyama with curiosity including the club manager, Yachi.

“Uhm, we talked and exchanged LINE, that’s about it,” Kageyama said and Hinata’s eyes widened in shock.

“K-Kageyama, you know what LINE is?” The tiny middle blocker inquired.

“Atsumu showed me what it is,” Kageyama answered and everyone let out a loud “OHHHHHHHHH” that caught the setter off guard.

“W-What?” The black-haired girl stuttered after seeing everyone in the team smirking at her.

“Atsumu?? You guys on first name basis already? That’s quick,” Michimiya teased Kageyama and the girls giggled as she flushed a bright shade of red.

“H-He has a twin so I c-can’t just call him Miya right? He introduced himself as Atsumu too…” Kageyama mumbled and Sugawara placed her arm around the setter with a laugh.

“Alright alright, girls. Stop teasing her, she looks like she’s about explode here,” Sugawara said as she let out a small chuckle. “What else did you guys talk about?”

“Hmm… He said Kyary Pamu Pamu is his queen and his favourite console game is Winning Eleven, and also—” Kageyama continued.

“Wow… I never thought I’d see the day where Kageyama talk about pop culture,” Sugawara said in awe while wiping away a tear and the third years nodded in unison with a proud expression on their faces.

“Wait Kageyama, you two haven’t gone on that date yet right??” Hinata interrupted.

“No… But he said he’ll come over to Miyagi this Sunday for the date,” Kageyama replied.

“Ohhh, he’s in such a hurry to see you! Didn’t Inarizaki literally just won the championship game yesterday?” Sasaki chimed in.

“Yeah, but there’s a problem… I told him I’ll pick the places we’ll go but I searched top places for dates and all I got were spots that couples visit in Miyagi instead,” the setter sighed and someone snickered from behind.

“Well yeah, that’s what you searched up. What did you think a date means anyways?” Tsukishima chortled in a mocking manner with Yamaguchi next to her.

“Isn’t it just a social appointment with a guy or with other ? Like how people go on a lunch date with their friends?” Kageyama said, confused.

“Wow, our queen here whose popularity amongst the boys is out of this world doesn’t even know what a date is. Were you going to wear your usual tracksuit to your ‘social appointment’?” The blonde taunted with a laugh. Kageyama frowned and prepared to snap back at the middle blocker but she couldn’t say anything. _What’s wrong with wearing a tracksuit to meet people?_ She thought to herself.

“Hey hey, Tsukishima, stop it. Kageyama, a date is a social engagement but it’s usually a romantic one, which is why I was pretty surprised when you said yes back in Tokyo,” Sugawara explained.

“W-What?? But we’re not together?? Does saying yes to a date mean that we’re t-together already??” Kageyama’s face was a shade of brilliant red and turned to Sugawara. “What s-should I do?? I mean I thought it was weird that he asked for a meeting with me in exchange for lessons but I didn’t know that equal to being in a relationship‼”

“No no, you guys don’t have to be together to go on a date… But it definitely seems like he is interested in you,” Sugawara said.

“Me? But I’m not interesting though?” The black-haired girl questioned and everyone facepalmed.

“Anyways, bring him to a restaurant or a public area rather than a secluded place… I know a nice Western styled restaurant in Sendai, you should take him there. I’ll text you the location,” the ex-captain suggested.

“Ohh‼ Thank you Sugawara-senpai‼” Kageyama’s face lit up as she thanked the third year.

“Break over‼ Serving practices, let’s go!” The coach said and the girls rushed back to the court to continue their practices.

 

Kageyama returned to her room after a refreshing shower and sat on her desk, looking at the desktop wallpaper with a blank expression for a good few minutes before opening up the search engine and typed “what to wear on a date” in the box. She looked through a couple websites before getting up from her seat and walked towards her closet. There was a variety of T-shirts, jogging pants, and track jackets in various shades of dark blue, grey and black and Kageyama sighed with a frown on her face. She dug through the closet and drawers to find a pile of clothes that her mom and aunt bought for her but she never wears. _Please let me find something in here_ , she prayed as she stared intently at them. _You guys are my last hope_.

“Alright, I think these will do,” Kageyama said after finding a cream wool turtleneck sweater and a short black circle skirt. She looked at the other frilly, bright pink coloured articles of clothing she found in the pile with disapproval and shoved them back into the closet.

“Now, shoes…” The black-haired girl murmured as she sprinted downstairs to check her shoe collection to find a pair of black suede oxfords with low heels that she wore only once to a wedding; she was pleasantly surprised to find that they still fit despite not wearing them for a while. Kageyama sprinted upstairs with the shoes in her arms and found a small, brown leather backpack from her mother’s closet. _Thanks mom_ , she thought to herself with a smile and took it to her room. Kageyama sighed in relief after seeing her outfit for tomorrow finally complete and she picked up her phone to see she received a message from Atsumu.

_Atsumu: thanks for sending me the location! Can’t wait to see you tomorrow_ ≧﹏≦

_Tobio: No problem! See you tomorrow._

For some reason, Kageyama found herself tossing around in the bed, unable to fall asleep that night. There was this feeling of anticipation and excitement that had kept her wide awake at ungodly hours and she began to think about the kinds of things they’d talk about on their date, the places they’d go, the food they’d eat, how the boy would look like in casual clothes instead of his uniform—  
Kageyama slapped her cheeks with more force than intended and she winced at the pain inflicted by her palms. _What were you thinking?? This is not like you at all_ , she thought to herself and buried her head under the blanket in embarrassment before she eventually drifted to sleep when the clock hit 1AM.

* * *

Kageyama woke up to the series of annoying alarms blaring in her ears that she set the night before, afraid that she would accidently overslept and let Atsumu wait at the train station in Sendai for the entire day. She groggily sat up from her bed with a huge yawn and rubbed her eyes with her hands before she turned on her phone to see one new message from Atsumu.

_Atsumu: Hey, I’m on the train now, see you in an hour!_

The setter jumped in her bed as she realized that she set the alarm one hour behind the intended wake up time by accident, leaving her only an hour to get ready and go to the train station. Kageyama immediately springed out of her bed and dashed into the bathroom to wash up; she hastily splashed her face with cold water and brushed her teeth at lightning speed before returning to her bedroom. After ditching the worn out but homey pajamas, she pulled the wool turtleneck over her head and put on the circle skirt then added some black over-the-knee socks for warmth. Kageyama tied her messy bedhead into her usual high ponytail and put on a beige duffle coat before dashing out the door with a her backpack slung over her shoulder towards the bus stop; she mentally cursed the stupid heels for slowing her down and swore that she’ll never wear something that’s not running shoes again as the bus came exactly a second after she got to the stop. Kageyama sighed with relief after finally settling down on a seat at the back of the bus and regained her normal breathing rhythm but her heart continued to race as if she’s doing an intense cardio exercise. She gripped onto the hem of her skirt tightly with balled fists and the feeling of anxiousness but also excitement intensified the closer the bus approached its destination. Kageyama managed to remove her bum from the seat and get off the vehicle despite experiencing a serious case of jelly legs when the bus came to a halt at the Sendai train station; the black-haired girl’s eyes wandered around her surroundings, trying to locate the boy amongst the mass of people before she felt a pair of warm hands covering her field of vision.

“Guess who?” A familiar voice that she listened and fell asleep to every night for the past week on the other line of the phone whispered in her ear and the corner of Kageyama’s lips instinctively curved into a smile before she was even aware of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! I decided to switch things around this time and put the chapter notes at the end :D I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thank you for waiting patiently for it!! ｡>‿‿<｡ I truly appreciate all the kudos this fic has gained and the comments honestly always make my day when I read them (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄ ♡ So I decided to make Atsumu a Kyary Pamu Pamu fan on a whim because for some reason I feel like he'd like her a lot for some reason LOL (for those who doesn't know what LINE is, it's a popular messaging app in Japan and its pretty much like Messenger). Also, I googled the distance from Kobe (Hyogo) to Sendai (Miyagi) when I was planning this chapter and apparently it takes 5 hours by train LOL so for the sake of this story let's just pretend it's only an hour ok :')))) I had so much fun writing about dense Kageyama and Atsumu trying to be cute and flirty with his emoji's ;D Stay tuned for the next chapter where the date is finally happening!!!!


	5. Five.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!! I hope you are all doing swell c: First of all, I would like to apologize for the lack of update from me for a good month, I have been kept busy tons with lab reports, assignments or midterms every week so I never got to work on the fic much and I'm so sorry for not being able to keep my promise for updating once a week ╥﹏╥ The next time I'd update would most likely in April when the school year is over (I know I'm so sorry ;___;) but just know I'll try my best to be writing as much as possible during this second half of the school year!! Once this school year is over I'll be updating so much more often so please wait for me till then! I am honestly forever grateful for the amount of kudos and comments this fic has received, thank you all so freaking much and please keep them coming!! ♥ Without further ado, please enjoy the fic and subscribe if you haven't ｡>‿‿<｡♡

“Guess who?” Atsumu whispered in the black-haired girl’s ear with a smirk as he took his hands from the warm jacket pockets and covered her eyes with his palms. Ever since the blond got off the train, his eyes were busy searching for a certain black-haired girl amongst the busy crowd at the station; just when he was about to give up and prepared to dial Kageyama’s number instead, a silhouette reminiscent of the girl that he couldn’t stop thinking about for the past week standing only a few meters away from him caught his attention immediately. She rotated her body 90 degrees to the left, exposing her side profile to the now-awestruck boy’s field of vision; Kageyama was absolutely stunning, to the point that he wasn’t even sure if that was the same girl that was carved into his memory. She had traded her baggy sports jacket for a cozy, soft sweater beneath a slightly oversized coat and her usually exposed calves were covered in black, modest looking socks that stopped short of her thighs, leaving a small patch of exposed skin between the hem of the skirt and the knee. The blond’s legs began to move automatically, bringing the entire body closer to the source of attraction before he was even conscious of it. He maneuvered himself swiftly through the tiny spaces between the mass of people as he approached his target and stretched out his hands to shield her field of vision. He heard a light giggle from the first year before she turned her body around 180 degrees and looked at the blond with her large, dark blue eyes that glistened with excitement and curiosity. Atsumu froze in his place, pupils dilated and cheeks flushed a bright shade of red in response to the close proximity between the two; his hands itching to bring the girl that he yearned to meet again into his embrace.

“W-What’s wrong? Have you been waiting outside for a long time? Your cheeks and ears are all red,” Kageyama inquired with her eyebrows furrowed and reached up to cup the boy’s face with her hands before he grabbed onto her wrists, his already-scarlet face burning up even more at the gesture.

“N-No‼ I j-just got here! It’s not cold at all!” The blond blabbered. He let out a sigh of relief in his mind as he managed to stop the girl from feeling his flaming hot cheeks and mentally cursed himself for being so easily shaken up at everything she does instead of keeping his calm. His hands unconsciously drifted further down from her wrists to her fingers and was surprised at how frozen they were; Atsumu frowned as he took off the grey wool scarf on his neck and wrapped Kageyama’s hands gently in the soft fabric.

“I think you’re cold one here, look how frozen your fingers are. Us setters need to take care of our hands,” The blond remarked after bundling up the first year’s hands in his scarf.

“T-Thank you…” Kageyama said earnestly as she looked up from her wrapped hands and back to the second year. Atsumu smiled and leaned dangerously close to the black-haired girl so that their noses were only centimetres away from touching before he turned his head slightly to the side so that his lips were by her ear once again.

“By the way, you look really pretty today. I almost couldn’t recognize you… Did you perhaps do this for me?” The blond mused with a smirk that made Kageyama want to crawl into a corner in embarrassment.

“N-Not at all! I-I was told that I shouldn’t wear my tracksuit s-so I had no choice—” Kageyama defended frantically and Atsumu leaned away from the girl with a sigh.

“Awww, that made me sad, Tobio. I thought you only did this because you were meeting me,” the second year pouted; his heart melted in an instant after seeing Kageyama’s eyes widened in fear and blinked nervously as she tried to come up with something to say in response.

“T-That’s n-not what I mean‼ I mean sure I w-wanted to put in an e-effort to look good too…” The black-haired girl mumbled, her gaze avoiding the the blond’s as her cheeks reddened in embarrassement. _God, I wish I could kiss you right now_ , Atsumu thought to himself as he stared at the flustered girl.

“I’m just joking, Tobio. So, where are we going??” The blond said with a smile then asked.

“Oh right!” Kageyama looked up and quickly fished out her phone from the brown leather backpack she was carrying on her back after extracting one hand from the scarf and stared intensely at her phone. Atsumu leaned in closer to see a long text message with step-by-step road directions from a person called “Sugawara Senpai” and frowned. _Sugawara?? Another dude?_ Atsumu cursed under his breath as he scowled at the phone.

“Ah, senpai said we should walk this way,” Kageyama looked up from her phone screen and pointed in the direction ahead.

“Hm… Wait, isn’t that the east?? It says the west in the text,” Atsumu said after checking the phone once again and looked at the opposite direction. The black-haired girl glanced at the blond with a confused expression and he chuckled in response.

“I see Tobio is poor with directions… You must get lost easily, don’t you? Don’t worry, leave this to me, ok?” The second year reassured with a soft pat on the back.

“I’m sorry…” Kageyama apologized with a sheepish smile as she hand over the phone to the blond. Atsumu took the phone with his left hand with a soft grin and held onto her free, unbundled hand with his right and tucked them in his large fleece-lined coat pocket together. Kageyama looked up at the second year with a flustered expression on her face but that only made his fingers enclose around hers even more tightly in the small, warm space with confidence.

“Come on, let’s go,” Atsumu said with a gentle tug and Kageyama nodded happily as they left the busy station walking hand-in-hand with each other.

* * *

Hinata stopped in front of a medium-sized vintage-styled restaurant with vines decorated the multi-coloured brick walls on the exterior of the building; the name of the restaurant were written in large, gold cursives in contrast to the dark brown wooden banner hung up high above the entrance. The orange-haired girl’s mouth was open in awe as she hopped off her bike and parked it on the bike rack in front of the store. _Damn, what a fancy restaurant_ , Hinata thought to herself. The middle blocker wasn’t exactly quite sure why she ended up stalking Kageyama and Miya Atsumu on their date; but from the way that Inarizaki setter looked at Kageyama and how he looked like he would totally devour her the moment they are alone, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat uneasy. After all, Kageyama is essential to their attacks and to the entire volleyball team; if something really did happen to her, it wouldn’t be good for herself, Hinata and the team. _Good job Shoyo, talk about taking one for the team_ , Hinata thought to herself proudly before reminding herself of the mission and the purpose of this trip. She carefully pulled up the hood on her grey hoodie over her bright, curly orange hair before entering the restaurant as normally as she can without attracting anyone’s attention. However, the moment she entered the restaurant her eyes met Atsumu’s for a split second and she frantically hid behind a barrier, her heart threatened to leap out of her chest. Hinata sighed and drew in a few breaths with her eyes squeezed shut, trying to calm her racing heart; after regaining strength in her legs, she carefully moved closer to the wall, trying to get a better view of the couple before bumping into another person and she let out a squeal.

“Oh, I’m so sorry— Suga senpai??” Hinata apologized before her eyes widened in shock and exclaimed in hushed whispers. A pair of hands covered the orange-haired girl’s mouth speedily and dragged her down to the ground; the ex-captain took off her cap and sunglasses swiftly and held up a finger against her lips before she slowly rose up and to check that they didn’t garner any attention from the couple. After the verification, Sugawara squatted back down and smiled at Hinata sheepishly as the middle blocker gawked at her.

“Suga senpai??? W-What are you doing here?? You’re stalking Kageyama too?” Hinata questioned.

“Y-Yeah… I don’t feel easy about the whole date thing especially when Kageyama is so dense about everything… I feel like she’d be an easy target,” Sugawara explained.

“B-But you were so calm back in Tokyo though?? You were even teasing her about him liking her and everything…” The middle blocker asked.

“I had to make it not obvious, Hinata. I don’t think Kageyama would’ve let us accompany her on this date so I needed to lower her guard first. Plus, it’s fun to tease Kageyama about something for once… Also, this restaurant that I suggested her to go to, it’s owned by my uncle so I could stalk her here in peace without getting reported and arrested by the police or something,” Sugawara elaborated and Hinata looked at the third year in awe.

“Suga senpai… You’re amazing‼” The orange-haired girl commented excitedly and she smiled in returned.

“Come on, Hinata. Let’s go sit over there. I’ll get my uncle to fix us some lunch,” the silver-haired girl guided the first year to the seats cautiously. Their seat was Hinata stared at the couple intensely while sipping aggressively on the iced tea that was brought to them by the waitress and let out a heavy sigh after draining the entire glass.

“What’s wrong, Hinata?” Sugawara looked at the orange-haired girl.

“It must be nice…” She mumbled in response without removing her eyes from the two. “It must be nice… To be so skilled at volleyball and beautiful that even the best setter in the nation is interested in her… Kageyama is definitely blessed with a lot,” Hinata sighed. Sugawara turned her head to look at the tiny first year, whose gaze now fixated on the black-haired girl as she looked at her with a longing expression. The ex-captain couldn’t help but empathize with the middle blocker; after all, Hinata was right. Kageyama’s volleyball skills are prodigious, allowing her to become a regular in the team basically the moment she joined the club and replacing Sugawara as the main setter with ease. Much like her talent at the sport, her looks are also quite out of this world; gaining attention from males and females alike wherever she goes. Sugawara pursed her lips as she tried to think of something to comfort the middle blocker before the orange-haired girl shot up from her seat, her light brown eyes glistened with resolution.

“But I won’t lose to Kageyama‼ Even though I don’t have even half of what she has… but I swore that I’ll beat her one day. And I won’t give up until I do that!” Hinata said with determination and the silver-haired girl smiled in response. _Looks like I was worried for nothing_ , Sugawara though to herself.

“Well lookie here! Ain’t that my beautiful niece‼” A voice sounded from the other direction and the two girls turned their heads sideway to see a middle-aged man with the same silver hair as the ex-captain but cropped nice and short; he wore a typical white chef’s gown and had a large grin on his face as he greeted the two with open arms.

“Shhhh! Uncle, pipe down a bit!” The ex-captain shushed the man.

“Ahh, sorry. I am just so happy to see my precious niece‼ Come here,” the chef urged the silver-haired girl to give him a hug and Sugawara rolled her eyes but with a smile as she embraced her uncle.

“How’s everything?? Is everyone doing well? You and your parents barely come here for dinner nowadays,” Sugawara’s uncle pouted in response.

“Sorry, uncle. We’ve all been pretty busy nowadays. I promise we’ll come during golden week!” Sugawara promised and the man chuckled as he ruffled his niece’s hair.

“Good. So, how’s that rascal doing? Are you still with him?” The chef teased and the silver-haired girl’s face lit up in embarrassment at the mention of Sawamura.

“Y-Yeah, of course!” Sugawara replied, flustered.

“Tell him to come here some other time with you, I’ll show him what happens if he doesn’t treat my precious niece properly,” the chef guffawed after his comment and Sugawara facepalmed in response.

“Oh, uncle! This is my teammate from volleyball club, Hinata. Hinata, this is my uncle, the owner of this restaurant,” the ex-captain said as she remembered the tiny girl who has been looking at the two converse with curiosity and quickly introduced them to each other.

“Oh hello there young lady! I saw one of your games couple months back and damn, you sure can fly‼ I’m sure in no time you’ll be Karasuno’s ace,” the chef commented with a smile and Hinata’s entire face lit up at the comment.

“Really?? You really think so?? Thank you so much‼” Hinata exclaimed excitedly and did a full 90 degrees bow, which earned a few glances from the other dining customers.

“Hinata, not so loud, remember we are here to spy right??” Sugawara frantically sat the ecstatic middle blocker sit back down on her seat, wary of getting discovered from a certain couple and turned to her uncle. “Uncle, can you fix us something to eat please?”

“Of course! Just give me some time and I’ll be back with food,” Sugawara’s uncle said before he disappeared back into the kitchen and waitresses appeared at their table moments later, filling their tables with plates amongst plates of delicately decorated seafood dishes, ranging from smoked salmon to clam chowder to Crab Louie salad; the chef came out last with oyster stew and set it on the table with a smile. Hinata gawked at all the mouthwatering dishes placed on the table and swallowed her saliva, unable to redirect her gaze elsewhere.

“Go ahead and eat! If that’s not enough let me know‼” The chef declared.

“Thank you uncle!” Sugawara said with a smile before he disappeared into the kitchen once more.

“Your uncle is so amazing, Sugawara senpai‼ Look at all these amazing dishes!” Hinata said excitedly and her stomach growled in agreement.

“Let’s dig in, Hinata!” The ex-captain said with a smile and the two girls began chowing down the food. Hinata was so absorbed in stuffing the food in her mouth and tasting the rich flavours that she forgot why she was even here in the first place until a loud _clink_ sound made by the silverware hitting against the glass plate had Hinata jumped in her seat. The middle blocker turned her attention to Sugawara, who had dropped her fork on the plate and started coughing up a storm.

“Suga-senpai‼ Are you ok?? Did you choke?? Do you need water??” Hinata asked frantically while patting on the silver-haired girl on the back. Sugawara shook her head but jabbed her finger in the forward direction; Hinata’s eyes quickly followed the pointed direction to see Miya Atsumu holding Kageyama’s cheek with one hand as he leaned in dangerously close to the black-haired girl, lips only a mere few centimeters away from touching each other.

* * *

With Atsumu leading the way, the two of them got to the restaurant without much difficulty and settled down into a nice, small dining table for 2 right next to the window. The waitress approached the two shortly after with a large smile on her face and handed them menus as she introduced the specials for today. Kageyama furrowed her eyebrows at all the strange Italian words that she couldn’t read and the Japanese translation only confused her even more. _Fettuccine… Ravioli… Vermicelli… What are all these?..._ The blacked-haired girl thought to herself as her eyes scanned the pages before giving up and moved onto the next page, in hopes of finding some Japanese food on the menu that she actually knows what they are. Kageyama quickly gave up on trying to decipher the strange dish names and peaked her head out from the menu to look at the blond boy, who had a relaxed expression on his face as he flipped through the menu. Her eyes began to wander from his perfectly styled yellow locks that was arranged in a slightly messy manner due to the cold winter wind, to his prominent collarbone that is usually hidden under his round neck volleyball uniform, and then to his long, slender fingers with neat, clipped nails that clinged onto the brown, leather booklet. He was wearing a dark denim button-up with the first two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up just slightly beneath his elbow to reveal his toned forearms. His shirt was half-tucked into a pair of fitted black jeans with distressed details on the knees; the hem of the jeans was rolled up to rest above the black, leather combat boots on his feet. Having completely lost her interest in the variety of dishes this restaurant has to offer, Kageyama stared at Atsumu as she scrutinized every single little detail of the boy sitting across her, slightly mesmerized.

“Like what you’re seeing?” A voice sounded and Kageyama snapped out of her trance immediately, suddenly became embarrassed after she realized what she was doing.

“U-Uh?? Yeah… The menu’s great…” The black-haired girl smiled sheepishly and ducked behind the menu, trying to hide her face as she felt her cheeks burning up from embarrassment. Atsumu let out a low chuckle in response as he propped up an arm and rested his cheek on his hand, looking at the first year with a loving expression.

“Are you two ready to order?” The waitress gently interrupted with a smile but Atsumu’s gaze was still fixated in Kageyama’s direction, his whole attention never left the black-haired girl.

“Are you ready Tobio?” He gently tapped the cover of the menu that Kageyama had disappeared behind with a grin and she jolted in response. _Quick, find something, anything…_ She thought to herself as her eyes frantically scanned the menu and blurted out the first dish she saw.

“Huh?? Y-Yes‼ I’ll get the… The… The penny all arabita,” Kageyama said.

“The penne all'arrabbiata? Ok, and you sir?” the waitress enuciated the dish effortlessly which constrasted her butchered pronounciation and that only made the Karasuno setter want to just crawl in a hole right now and die.

“I’ll have the grilled salmon steak,” Atsumu finally looked up at the waitress and said with a charming smile as he handed the menus back to her. The waitress blushed slightly at the sight of the blond’s dazzling grin and skidaddled off with the order.

“It’s nice to finally see you again, Tobio. I’ve been looking forward to finally make this date come true,” the blond remarked.

“You must have been tired right? You guys just got back from Tokyo and you had to come to Miyagi…” Kageyama said.

“That’s what I wanted to do, you don’t have to feel bad about it. It’s not like I had practice today or anything,” Atsumu said reassuringly as he sipped on the drink nonchalantly, but a scary image of angry Kita had began to emerge in his mind and the blond tried hard to not think about the consequences of skipping practice. _It’s worth it_ , Atsumu thought to himself proudly. _Why spend Sunday morning with bossy Kita when you can be with a beautiful girl like Tobio? It’s a no brainer._ The cellphone in his pocket vibrated and the blond quickly fished it out to see a short text message from Osamu saying: _Kita wants to know where you are at_. The blond grinned nervously at the message as he shut off his phone and swiftly stuffed it back into his pocket, pretending nothing happened. _I’m going to die when I get back, but I have no regrets_.

“Do you guys usually have practices 7 days a week?? Is that how your team is so strong?? Of course, your team have such strong players and the number 1 setter, but it’s amazing how your team won the spring tournament!” Kageyama exclaimed excitedly and Atsumu couldn’t help but grin widely whenever she gets enthusiastic about volleyball. Her love for the sport is so great and pure it made the blond smile, and the fact that there is someone who’s capable of loving volleyball more than he already does fascinated him.

“We usually practice around 6 days a week, but this weekend is special because we won,” Atsumu said with a smug grin. “And that’s why I decided to treat myself by coming down to see you.”

“Seeing me is a treat? Why?” Kageyama cocked her head slightly in confusion.

“Hmm… Because I like conversing with you… and…” The blond said slowly with a hint of seduction in his voice as his fingers slowly inched forward, getting closer and closer to Kageyama’s hand that also rested on the table. “…I also really like—”

“Here’s your salmon steak, sir, and penne all’arrabbiata, ma’am,” the waitress returned and placed the dishes on the table, which made Kageyama retract her hand from the table top to her lap. _Stupid waitress_ , the setter mentally cursed for her terrible timing and gritted his teeth as he forced a smile in her direction.

“Let’s eat, shall we?” Atsumu asked and Kageyama nodded too eagerly for her own liking; it was hard to hide the fact that she was starving since she skipped breakfast to get ready. Without a second thought, the black-haired girl scooped up a spoonful of pasta covered in a red, rich sauce and stuffed it in her mouth. It only took a few seconds for her to feel that painful, burning sensation on her tongue and esophagus; she was caught off guard by how spicy the sauce was and having absolutely zero tolerance towards spicy foods, this was definitely the worst dish she could’ve ever picked randomly.

“A-Are you ok Tobio?? What’s wrong??” Atsumu asked, concerned.

“I-I’m fine‼” Kageyama wheezed as she shoved in another bite with a pained smile, trying to reassure the blond but only to choke on the pepper flakes in the sauce and she began to have a coughing fit. Atsumu immediately leaned forward and reached over to pat the black-haired girl on the back until the coughing ceased.

“Are you sure you are ok?” The blond’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Kageyama, who arched over towards the table as she coughed.

“I-I’m fine… It’s just this was more spicy than I thought—” the first year wheezed and lifted her head up to reassure the boy, only to see his face only a mere inch or two away from hers. Both of them were caught off guard by the lack of personal spaces, but Atsumu didn’t do anything to widen the gap between the two. Instead, he placed his hand on her cheek, fixing her face in position as his thumb grazed over her skin softly; his eyelids drooped slightly as he scanned Kageyama’s face closely and carefully, not wanting to leave out any details. _If there’s a perfect moment for a kiss, it’s gotta be now_ , Atsumu thought to himself as he gaze locked on those full, luscious lips he dreamt of kissing more often than he’d like to.

“Your face is heating up, it is really spicy huh?” The blond said and removed his hand from her cheek as he sat back down into his seat. He lowkey hated himself for not taking the chance and just kiss Kageyama, but it wasn’t the right timing and he just might make her choke even more.

“Y-Yeah,” Kageyama stuttered as she felt her burning cheek against the back of her hand.

“I can eat spicy things, why don’t we trade?” The second year proposed with a smile as he swapped the two plates before she could interject.

“T-Thank you, Atsumu,” the black-haired girl looked at him with an apologetic smile that made the blond’s heart melt into a puddle. _Anything for you_ , he thought to himself as he shoved a large bite of the pasta dish into his mouth, knowing full well that his stomach tomorrow would definitely hate him for this decision.

 

* * *

 

“Oy… You drag me all the way to Sendai on an early Sunday morning just so you can go buy your stupid milk bread?” Iwaizumi glared at the brunette as they left the bakery with a brown paper bag-full of Oikawa’s favourite pastry.

“Oh please, we have to go to Miyagi University’s open house today in the afternoon anyways, it’s not like we purposely came here for milk bread… Plus, your ‘early’ is 11 AM, you lazy bum,” Oikawa mused as he fished out one bread from the bag and started munching on it, not paying his childhood friend any mind.

“Well unlike somebody who stays up all night watching volleyball videos, I actually value my sleep time,” the spiky-haired boy said with a yawn. Oikawa simply shook his head with a sigh and ignored Iwaizumi’s snarky comebacks, which was something he mastered after being the latter’s friend for three-quarters of his life.

“Which university are you leaning towards right now?” Iwaizumi asked.

“Keio University,” Oikawa said happily as he chewed. “Ahhh… The milk bread from this bakery is the best…”

“As expected… If I got an acceptance and sports scholarship from the third best university in the country, I’d go there. Plus, you have always wanted to go to Tokyo,” Iwaizumi remarked, slightly envious of his childhood friend.

“Yeah! The campus is ginormous there, and it’s in Central Tokyo‼ I can just imagine how awesome it’d be living in such a large and glamorous city… Plus, their volleyball team there is pretty tight, so of course I’d go there,” Oikawa rambled after he swallowed the last bite of the milk bread. “Iwachan, where are you planning on going? If you’re going to Tokyo too, we can probably rent a place there together…”

“Tohoku University,” Iwaizumi declared and the brunette looked at him in surprise.

“You’re staying in Miyagi?? But it’s so boring here… There’s mountains… and trees… and more mountains…” Oikawa pouted. “Whereas Tokyo has the Tokyo Tower‼ and Skytree‼ Tokyo Dome??‼”

“I don’t mind staying in Miyagi… Plus, I didn’t get into any outstanding universities in Tokyo anyways, so I’m going to stay here,” the spiky-haired boy said.

“I guess… Isn’t Tohoku the one your mom wants you to go? You’ll make Aunty happy,” Oikawa said.

“Yeah… If our two schools play against each other, I won’t have mercy on you just because you’re my childhood friend, got it?” Iwaizumi said with a taunting smirk.

“Oh please Iwachan, I’ll pulverize you and your school so no need to hold back,” the brunette returned his remark with ease. “I think Makki is also planning on going to a school in Tokyo? Or was it Kyoto?? And Mattsun is going to find a job after high school…”

“Everyone will be separated, huh...” Iwaizumi finished and they both let out a small sigh.

“Ayy Iwachan, we still have 2 months left until graduation! We should definitely go on a trip before we all leave for university for the workforce… We should go somewhere south, like to Osaka or Kyoto—” Oikawa said before he felt a tap on the shoulder from his childhood friend, who came to a halt in front of a small, Western-styled restaurant.

“Oy, isn’t that Kageyama?” Iwaizumi said, his eyes fixated on something on the other side of the glass window and Oikawa turned to see the Karasuno first year who he almost couldn’t recognize because of her outfit; he was completely caught off guard by how gorgeous she looked. Kageyama was smiling brightly at the person sitting across her, which made the brunette shifted his attention from her onto the person she was conversing with. Oikawa’s eyes widened at the sight of the number 1 setter in the nation, Miya Atsumu, who looked affectionately at the beautiful girl in front of him as they ate. The Seijoh captain felt anger boiling up inside of him as he clenched his fist at the sight before him and swiftly turned to walk away from the scene, leaving his childhood friend behind with a scowl on his face.


	6. Six.

The warm light emitted from the setting sun painted the asphalt road in pretty shades of orange and red on the Sunday afternoon. Strolling side by side on a small street with a beautiful girl while admiring the sunset in Sendai was the epitome of romance according to Atsumu, who was doing his best to tone down his giddiness enough to make him still appear cool and collected on the surface. He sneaked a peak as casually as possible at the pale, delicate hand that he was holding onto, and he couldn’t help but giggle at his good fortune as if he just won the lottery with a ticket that someone else abandoned on the road.

“What’s wrong?” Kageyama looked at him with her deep blue eyes as they came to a halt in front of a red light when she heard a suppressed giggling sound from the blond.

“Nothing, I was just really happy today,” the Inarzaki setter replied with a big grin on his face and Kageyama couldn’t help but smile automatically in response.

“What time is it?” The raven wondered and Atsumu raised his arm to check his watch strapped around his wrist. “It’s 5:30 PM.”

“When does your train leave?” Kageyama inquired and the blond froze in his place for a second then cursed under his breath. _Oh yeah. The train. That’s a thing. Right. I don’t live here._

“7,” Atsumu grumbled with a pout. The Kansai boy was not pleased about how quickly time was passing, and how little time they spent with one another. They had a meal, went to the aquarium, had hot beverages in a café, and marvelled at the Sendai city view from the top of a skyscraper. He felt he barely spent any time with the girl despite his legs were about to give out from the amount of walking he had to do today. He was so going to die at practice tomorrow.

“Oh! We still have some time then,” the first year said as her eyes glistened with ambition and yanked Atsumu forward with her when the light turned green.

“W-Where are we going??” Atsumu said as the two of them were now running at a moderate pace.

“Just run!” Kageyama said as she pulled the setter along with her.

 

“This is…” The pair stopped in front of a bright, vermillion-coloured gate with fox stone statues situated on both sides of the entrance. Atsumu had been to a good number of shrines in the past, but this shrine, for some reason, was especially breathtaking to him. Compared to the other shrines, it wasn’t especially beautiful or lavishly decorated with colours, but it had a certain charm to it that was indescrible to him.

“It’s a shrine that I come often ever since I was little,” Kageyama said as they climbed up the stairs and bowed to the Torii before they walked past it. “And now it’s been sort of a habit of mine to come before a big match or any important events.”

“Ahhh,” Atsumu hummed as his eyes wondered around the environment of the shrine, quietly observing the beauty of it before stopping in front of a Chozuya and washed their hands with the cold fountain water. The pair maneuvered themselves to the entrance of the main shrine and rang the bell that was tied to a big rope before tossing 5 yen into the Saisanbako. They bowed and clapped simultaneously before making their prayers; Kageyama finished her prayer and looked to her side to see Atsumu stood still for a good 10 seconds before he bowed again to finish his prayer.

“What did you pray for?” Atsumu asked with curiosity.

“I prayed for my team to win nationals at Inter-High,” Kageyama stated with determination and resolve. “What about you?”

“Hmm… Nothing,” the Inarizaki setter said nonchalantly before walking away from the Saisanbako. This only added fuel to the raven’s curiosity as she yanked his sleeve, egging him to tell her.

“You know, curiosity killed the cat,” Atsumu said a matter-of-factly as they walked down the stairs.

“I’m not a cat though, I’m a crow,” she grinned at him mischeviously before she opened her eyes wide in surprise and let out a small yelp.

“Stay here, I’ll be back‼” The Karasuno setter yelled before dashing back up to the stairs in the speed of light. Atsumu cocked his head in confusion but did what he was told and waited for about 10 minutes before Kageyama returned.

“Is everything ok?” Atsumu asked when the raven returned while panting.

“Yeah, I forgot my wallet,” Kageyama said sheepishly then looked at the time on her phone. “We should head on over to the train terminal now.”

“Yeah,” the boy agreed and they left the shrine. Atsumu instinctively reached for Kageyama’s hand again and put it into the wide pocket of his coat. Seeing that the first year didn’t object to the notion and Atsumu himself also craved the skinship, he did it one last time before they eventually reach the terminal. Kageyama broke the grip between her hand and his, retrieving it back to herself as she fished for something in her bag.

“Here,” she thrusted a charm in Atsumu’s direction with both hands with a sheepish smile. “It’s a kitsune omamori that I wanted to get for you as a gift for coming up here… I hope you’ll like it.” The blond reached out slowly and accepted the charm that was neatly wrapped in its clear plastic packaging. The charm was a small fox intricately woven in white threads with a small, golden bell attached on the top; the fox’s eyes were shaped like crescents and the inside of the ears were characterized by the peach-coloured threads. Atsumu was in shock from the small gesture and his heart fluttered as he looked at the charm then back up at the girl who gave this to him.

“Thank you… I love it, a lot,” the blond replied earnestly and Kageyama’s face lit up in response.

“Really? I’m glad you liked it. I saw a volleyball charm there and I was comtemplating on which one to get you, but I liked the fox more because it reminded me of you more, so—” The raven was cut short of her sentence as Atsumu yanked her forward into his embrace. He felt her body heat radiate and warming him in the process on this cold January night, and he buried his face in her shoulder to get a full whiff of her scent before he was going to be deprived of it for God knows how long. The blond immediately came to regret this decision, as his body now protested against the notion of moving even an inch away from this girl. _I don’t want to leave_ , Atsumu thought to himself as he tightened the grip around Kageyama. If he knew this was going to happen, he would’ve never hugged her, no matter how tempting it was to do so.

“A-Atsumu?” The black-haired girl said quietly but the blond didn’t move an inch.

“Hmm?” He hummed in response.

“You should probably go, or you’re gonna miss your train,” Kageyama said and those words stung a little to Atsumu. _She’s right_. He thought to himself. If he doesn’t leave soon, he’ll really miss his train back to Hyogo. But he didn’t want to leave, and he was hoping that Kageyama would feel the same way as well. Atsumu unwillingly freed the raven from his embrace and forced a smile, trying not to show how bummed out he was.

“I had a lot of fun today,” Kageyama said with a soft smile.

“I did too,” Atsumu remarked with his eyes focused on the floor and they stood there in silence for a few seconds before the raven broke the silence.

“We… should do this again,” the Karasuno setter said and Atsumu’s head snapped up, his eyes widened with disbelief and excitement.

“Really? You mean it? Another date?” The blond grabbed onto her hands happily and he waited for her response. Kageyama avoided his gaze, her cheeks in a bright shade of red and looked at the side before nodding.

“I’d like that… A lot,” Atsumu said and ruffled her hair lovingly before realizing he’s only got a minute before the train leaves. “See you next time, Tobio!” The Inarizaki setter waved as he ran towards the train’s entrance with the fox charm in his hand. The doors of the train closed shortly after the blond hopped on the train, and Atsumu’s gaze was still fixated on the black-haired girl until she disappeared from his field of vision as the train sped towards the other direction. The boy finally tore his eyes away from the window view and shifted onto the fox charm on his hand. He carefully opened the plastic packaging and took the charm out, trying to decide the best place to put it on before he finally strapped it onto his phone. Atsumu looked at the smiling fox fondly and stroked it with his thumb lovingly before dozing off.

 

* * *

 

“Oy, get your ass up. You have 15 minutes to get ready for morning practice,” Osamu said as he nudged his twin, who still laid in his bed without moving an inch.

“S-Samu… I d-don’t think I can go to school today… My stomach hurts… A lot…” Atsumu said weakly, his face white as the sheets he was lying on.

“Dude, what’s wrong with you? Caught a cold?” The older twin inquired and the blond shook his head with a pained expression.

“Don’t tell me you ate something spicy? You avoid spicy food with your entire life, why the hell would you eat it?” Osamu looked at his twin with disbelief.

“B-Because… Tobio c-can’t eat it… I don’t… want to see her… suffer…” The younger twin mumbled.

“Because she can’t eat it so you ate it?? Knowing full well you’d get sick from it? Diarrhea and shit?? Are you actually dumb? You know Kita is already going to kill you for skipping practice yesterday, now you’d probably be too weak to play for a week,” the silver-haired boy rambled and his twin groaned.

“I thought Kita was joking about the Sunday practice thing,” Atsumu mumbled and winced in pain as his stomach made a loud grumbling sound.

“When does Kita ever joke? It’s not like it’s your first day knowing him,” Osamu scoffed and watched his twin squirm in pain.

“A-Anyways… Can you tell the school I’m taking a sick day?” The blond asked and his twin let out a long sigh.

“Are you not gonna take any meds?” The older twin asked.

“I-I can’t find it… Can you find it for me? Also, it’s really cold here, can you bring me a blanket? And hot water? Close the blinds while you’re at it too… Some porridge would be nice too…” Atsumu asked and Osamu squinted at every single one of the requests that his twin was firing at him. He stomped out of the room into the kitchen to get the medicine and poured a glass of hot water before bringing them upstairs again. Osamu dragged the curtains closed quickly and threw a blanket he found in the closet in his twin’s direction.

“Ow… C-Can’t you be more gentle with the sick person?” Atsumu said weakly and Osamu snorted at his response.

“The meds are there, cook your own porridge or starve to death, both works for me, I’m leaving,” the older twin said and left the room.

“Ugh… What a dick,” Atsumu muttered under his breath before his stomach made another loud grumbling noise and the boy was scrambling off his bed to the washroom as fast as his body could carri him. Sure, he felt like utter shit as he was sprinting to the bathroom every 10 minutes, lost his appetite and all the energy he has left in him; but when his eyes landed on the fox charm fixed on his phone, he couldn’t help but think this was all worth it. The blond was really in too deep before he could even realize it himself.

 

* * *

 

“Kageyama‼ How was your date on Sunday??” Michimiya called after volleyball practice was finished and the black-haired girl froze in her place as all heads turned in her direction and numerous pairs of eyes were now fixated on her.

“Oh yeah, how was your ‘date’, queen of the court?” Tsukishima said in a teasing tone and that only made Kageyama’s face lit up in a bright shade of red.

“It was good…” Kageyama replied quietly and the third years’ squeals filled the entire gymnasium.

“Now, now, girls, knock it off…” Sugawara said with a smile.

“So what did you guys do????” Michimiya asked enthusiastically as the members crowded around Kageyama.

“We had lunch, went to the aquarium, went to a café, saw the city view of Sendai—” The raven listed.

“Then saw the city view of Send—Arrrgggg,” Hinata murmured quietly simultaneously in the corner and Sugawara immediately cupped the middle blocker’s mouth with her hands.

“Did you say something?” Kageyama looked at the ginger blankly and Hinata shook her head furiously in response.

“Oh yes Sendai view is lovely, go on?” Sugawara said with a smile.

“Then we went to a shrine, and that was it,” the setter finished and the third-years squealed some more.

“That was exactly like a date plan that a couple would do‼ So, how far are you and ‘Atsumu’ at right now?” Michimiya nudged the raven with her elbow softly and looked at her mischeviously.

“Probably nowhere, knowing how dense our queen is,” Tsukishima chortled.

“W-What do you mean how far are we? Like an hour apart?” Kageyama replied and the blonde snorted loudly before the gym erupted into laughter.

“No, we don’t mean distance wise, we mean your progress,” Sasaki joined in and Michimiya nodded.

“Progress?” This only made the first year even more confused than she already was.

“Have you guys held hands, hugged, kissed, made out, or even...??!?!” Michiyama trailed off and the girls began to giggle by themselves.

“We…” Kageyama started her sentence but was suddenly hit by waves of flashback in which her right hand was held by Atsumu’s left pretty much the entirety of their date, the warm, tight embrace that Atsumu pulled her into, and her offering to have a second, and possibly third, fourth, fifth date with the Inarizaki setter…

Kageyama shook her head quickly to dismiss those thoughts as her cheeks began to heat up and her heartbeat was getting faster by the second. All those things that she didn’t think too much of during the date was starting to surface and the more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she was getting. This feeling was so foreign to her, she had never felt this way about anyone. She didn’t get embarrassed when people asked her about Oikawa, when other guys confessed to her or made a move on her she didn’t feel a single thing, nor did she wanted to see a guy so badly to the point that she’d offer to have another date—

“Alright alright that’s enough, we better get out of here fast before the patrol comes,” Sugawara clapped her hands and said. The human circle surrounding Kageyama dissipated as the girls put away the poles, nets, and brooms back to the storage room in the gym.

“See you guys! Us third years will drop by again soon to play!” Michiyama waved at the team and the third years left. Everyone returned to the club room and changed out of their training suits, prepared to go home.

“Oy Kageyama,” Hinata called in a hushed tone after everyone left the room.

“Yeah?” Kageyama replied.

“So how far did you guys get?” The ginger inquired.

“W-Why do you wanna know?” The setter replied, getting flustered once again.

“Just curious, plus, girls tell each other these kind of stuff,” Hinata egged on while wiggling her eyebrows.

“It’s none of your business,” Kageyama dismissed the shorter girl and closed her locker, prepared to leave.

“Oh my… Don’t tell me you guys have kissed already‼ With tongue and everything—” The middle blocker gasped in shock and was cut off mid sentence by the setter.

“We did not! We only held hands and hugged!” The raven blurted out loudly and her eyes widened in shock from what she had just done. She groaned and crouched over, scratching her head in frusturation while trying to hide her crimson cheeks from the middle blocker.

“Are you serious?? You guys went that far? You two are not even dating though!” Hinata exclaimed.

“Really?? Don’t friends hold hands and hug all the time?” Kageyama asked frantically.

“Man, you are really only a volleyball idiot, Kageyama. Things are different with a guy, ok? Jeez,” the ginger shook her head at the setter.

“Wait a minute, why should I listen to you? You have zero dating experience,” the black-haired girl squinted at the middle blocker as she got up from squatting position and picked up her bag to leave. Hinata closed the club room door shortly after Kageyama left and quickly caught up with her.

“Hey, so do you like him? Miya Atsumu?” Hinata asked as she looked at the raven with curiosity. Kageyama was caught off guard by the question and choked on her yogurt drink.

“W-What?” Kageyama spat as she coughed, sending a look of disbelief towards the shorter girl.

“I asked if you like him or not? If you didn’t stop him from holding your hand and hugging you, then you must like him to some degree,” the middle blocker inquired and Kageyama had to take a moment to think it through. Hinata was right, after all. She didn’t dislike the skinship, in fact, thinking back about it now was making her incredibly flustered. Does that mean she liked him though?

“I-I don’t know! Don’t ask me that kind of stuff, stupid,” the setter snapped at the smaller girl next to her as they walked towards the front gate of the school.

“Yahoo! Tobio and Shrimpy, just getting off practice now?” a familiar voice called out and the brunette boy walked towards them with a dazzling smile.

“It’s the great king!” Hinata exclaimed in a hushed tone.

“What are you doing here, Oikawa-senpai? It’s late,” Kageyama asked, confused.

“And it’s because it’s late and dark outside, that I want to make sure you get home safely,” Oikawa flashed another charming smile in the black-haired girl’s direction before shifting his attention to the middle blocker. “Sorry Shrimpy, next time I’ll bring a friend with me to walk you home. You know, the spiky-haired guy from my team. I know you’d probably prefer me but Iwachan isn’t THAT bad on the eyes either, you’ll just have to endure it for a little while.”

“U-Uh thank you… But it’s really not t-that necessary… Bye now…” Hinata quickly left the two and ran towards the bike rack to retrieve her bike. Oikawa seemed pleased at the fact that the orange-haired girl got the message and left them alone as soon as she could.

“Shall we go now, Tobio?” Oikawa said as he held out his hand in the raven’s direction and Kageyama looked at him with a confused expression.

“When did you get here?” Kageyama inquired and the brunette exhaled with a smile. He grabbed onto the first year’s right hand, dragging her along away from the school gates.

“Don’t sweat the small stuff, let’s go,” the Seijoh captain replied with a soft grin as they left the high school. Kageyama was becoming increasingly aware of the firm grip on her right hand, but she didn’t retrieve it as Oikawa showed no sign of letting go either. Her eyes were fixated on the locked hands and her unoccupied hand reached up to her cheeks to test the temperature, then shifted down to her chest to feel the rhythm of her heartbeat; it was different from when Atsumu held onto her hand. Kageyama essentially felt nothing when holding onto Oikawa’s hand, so why was she so flustered when she realized Atsumu was holding onto her hands all along? Would she perhaps get more embarrassed as she thought of Oikawa’s hands around hers when she’s alone at home in her bedroom? Maybe Hinata was right about her potentially harbouring feelings for the Inarizaki setter? A train of thoughts kept Kageyama so occupied that she didn’t realize that they both came to a halt in the middle of the road half a block away from her house. Oikawa turned to face the raven without letting go of her hand.

“Hello? Earth to Kageyama,” Oikawa waved his right hand in front of her eyes and only then did Kageyama snapped out of her trance.

“H-Huh?” Kageyama jolted at the sound of Oikawa’s voice.

“You have been oddly quiet today, is there something wrong?” The brunette’s eyes were locked onto her midnight blue eyes as he asked with a slightly hint of concern in his voice.

“C-Can I ask you a question?” Kageyama asked quietly.

“What is it?” Oikawa asked.

“H-How do you know… If you like someone?...” The first year trailed off, with the last bit of the sentence barely audible. Kageyama watched the brunette’s eyes shifted slowly away from hers and his grip around her right hand loosened. Oikawa sucked in a big breath and exhaled slowly before he looked back up at the girl in front of him with a pained smile. He reached out for the raven’s hand and placed it on his chest just above where his heart was at without saying a word, and Kageyama could feel the drumming rhythm of the boy’s heart steadily increased upon her touch. She gradually raised her head up and looked at the brunette with widened eyes.

“When you like somebody, your heart races,” Oikawa began before the black-haired girl could say anything. He then locked his fingers around Kageyama’s hand and brought it down from his chest down to the side, holding it like how he had been for the past 15 minutes as they walked.

“And your desire to see them everyday grows more and more intensely,” the brunette continued on as he looked at Kageyama with the same pained smile before yanking her forward into his embrace. Oikawa wrapped his arms tightly around the raven’s shoulder and rested his cheek on top of her head, closing any distance between him and the girl. Kageyama’s cheek was now pressed against the Seijoh captain’s chest, his body heat warming her frozen skin that was attacked by the cold winter wind. She slowly swallowed her saliva and bit on her lip as she listened carefully to every word that the brunette was saying. 

“Then, you crave skinship with the person that has been occupying your mind all day,” his voice was almost a whisper as he stroked Kageyama’s hair and memories of the last time she was in his arms flashed across his mind. Oikawa freed his arms that were locked around the raven and created distance between the two as he pushed her gently away with both of his hands resting on her shoulders. The brunette had lost that air of confidence and playfulness that he was known for; his large, round hazelnut-coloured eyes were piercing and serious as he stared intensely at the first year before he spoke the last sentence with a hint of determination and resolve.

“Finally, you want to make that person yours.” Without a moment of hesitation, Oikawa’s hands slid up to cup Kageyama’s cheeks as he leaned in to press his plump lips against hers. Kageyama’s eyes widened at the sudden, unexpected gesture from the third year, unable to digest the current situation with her cluttered mind. The tip of her eyelashes brushed against his face as she batted her eyes in disbelief, and the caress of the brunette’s warm breath against her skin sent a shiver down the raven’s spine. The last sentence echoed in her head as she stared blankly into space, already gave up on trying to make commands to move her unresponsive limbs. Oikawa deepened the kiss without a second thought, heat coursing through his body as he made further contact with Kageyama’s soft, roseate lips. The Seijoh captain was slowly running out of air as his eager mouth refused to spare her lips a moment’s rest, but lung capacity was a thing and he simply couldn’t defy human physiology, and so Oikawa was forced to part from Kageyama hesitantly and unwillingly. His eyes stayed squeeze shut as he panted heavily to catch his breath, partially because he didn’t want to see the look of anger and disappointment on Kageyama’s face. He wasn’t mentally ready to accept the consequences of his action, but he had absolutely zero regrets. This was the only way for him to make it clear to the raven how much he liked her, and how much he didn’t want to lose her to Miya Atsumu.

“Oi…O-Oikawa…” Kageyama mumbled, barely audible. The brunette peeled his eyes open slightly to see the first year staring back at him with a lost expression. A small pang of guilt hit him as he saw those doe-like eyes gazed upon him, anticipating an explanation to his erratic behaviour.

“I like you, Tobio, I mean it,” Oikawa blurted out. “In the past, it might’ve seemed like I wasn’t serious in pursuing you, but I want to let you know that I was and I am serious about my feelings for you… So please… Consider me seriously?”

“I-I…” The black-haired girl stuttered, unable to form coherent sentences. She looked at the Seijoh captain with a helpless expression and apologetic eyes, which only made the brunette feel even worse for what he has done.

“You don’t have to answer me now, I can wait for you, ok?” Oikawa reassured the first year with a rub on the back and waited for her to respond. Kageyama nodded slowly while chewing on her lip and the brunette let out a small, relieved sigh.

“Have a good night Tobio, I’ll see you tomorrow,” The third year said with a soft smile as he waved goodbye to the girl. Kageyama watched him slowly diminish from her field of vision, and carefully raised her hand to lightly touch the lips that were previously kissed by the older boy. Despite feeling like her legs were about to give out on her, Kageyama managed to walk to her house and climbed the stairs to her bedroom. After closing the bedroom door, she plopped down on the bed with her eyes squeezed shut, trying to reorganize her thoughts. The raven had no idea that within the span of two days her life would be so much more difficult than before and at that moment, Kageyama desperately wished that love was as easy as volleyball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back from the dead with a fresh new chapter :D Hope you all enjoyed it and sorry for taking such a long time to update ╥﹏╥ I just finished school less than a week ago and from now I should be able to update much more frequently in the summer! Excuse the amount of cheese in this chapter LOL idk why but everything I write end up being cheesier than intended /facepalms/ nevertheless I still hope it was an enjoyable chapter to read and let me know your thoughts in the comments!! Thank you to those who left comments and kudos, as always they mean a crap ton to me and I really appreciated them (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄ ♡ See you in the next chapter!


	7. Seven.

“Oy, Shittykawa, you going to club— Huh?” Iwaizumi nonchalantly stepped into Class 3-5 after classes ended to find his childhood friend, only to find that his seat that girls usually crowded around was empty today. The spiky-haired boy scratched his head in confusion and scanned around the classroom to locate the presence of his obnoxiously annoying friend.

“Oikawa got called to the guidance office,” said one of the girls near the entrance. Iwaizumi thanked the girl and left the classroom next to his while checking his phone for any unread messages. He made his way to the club room, got changed and joined the other third years for stretching.

“Eh? Oikawa didn’t come with you?” Matsukawa said as Iwaizumi sat beside him and started to stretch his legs.

“Nah, he got called to the guidance office apparently,” Iwaizumi answered.

“I was in the guidance office earlier, and it seems like Oikawa is getting chewed out for his choice of university,” Hanamaki pitched in.

“Why? Isn’t he going to Keio? All the teachers want him to go there,” Iwaizumi turned to face the middle blocker.

“He’s going to Tohoku though? At least that’s what he told me yesterday night,” Hanamaki shrugged and Iwaizumi’s eyes widened in shock.

“Tohoku?... That little shit!” Iwaizumi growled and sprinted out of the gymnasium towards Class 3-5 despite the team members calling his name after him. He ran down the hallways and finally barged into the empty classroom to find Oikawa gathering his things and prepared to leave.

“Oh Iwachan! I was just gonna go to club—” Oikawa greeted his childhood friend with his usual smile but was met with Iwaizumi’s death glare.

“You, I know exactly what you’re thinking, you shithead!” The spiky haired boy yelled while trying to catch his breath.

“What?” The brunette asked innocently as if he could do no wrong, which only made Iwaizumi more angry.

“Why did you turn down Keio’s offer? Wasn’t that your dream school?” Iwaizumi snarled.

“I realized I want to live at home rather than go to Tokyo, ya know? Plus, isn’t it exciting that we are going to the same university? Who’s gonna keep me in check if you aren’t in Tokyo with me?” Oikawa said nonchalantly with his signature smile.

“Exciting my ass. You obviously changed your mind after seeing Kageyama with another guy on Sunday didn’t you?! You got scared and intimidated so you wanted to stay in Miyagi—” Iwaizumi said and the smile on Oikawa’s face faltered when Kageyama’s name popped up.

“What’s it to you? So what if I wanted to stay here because of Tobio?” Oikawa’s expression turned ice cold as he replied to his friend through gritted teeth.

“You’re a coward and an idiot, Trashykawa,” Iwaizumi muttered and the brunette scoffed in reply.

“Whatever you say, Iwachan,” Oikawa said simply and proceed to walk out of the classroom before Iwaizumi caught his arm in a vice-like grip and threw his friend down on the ground. The brunette scowled angrily at his friend, who was now looking down at him from above.

“You shithead‼ You’re gonna throw your future away from some girl who won’t even look twice at you for the past 3 years?? Are you crazy?” Iwaizumi yelled in Oikawa’s face as he crouched down to grab Oikawa by his uniform collar.

“Shut the hell up! I don’t need to hear from you about what I should and shouldn’t do with my life! Tobio isn’t just some girl either, and I’ll make her fall in love with me, it’s just a matter of time,” The Seijoh captain pushed his childhood friend away from him and got up from the ground before Iwaizumi dragged him back down and get him a hard headbutt.

“You fucking idiot! If Kageyama liked you, you guys would be dating already! Stop it with illusion that she’ll definitely like you back with time, because it’s not gonna happen!” Iwaizumi roared at Oikawa, whose nose was now bleeding from the hit earlier. The brunette hastily wiped the blood away with his sleeves and got up instantly to land a punch at Iwaizumi’s left cheek for vengeance.

“I said I don’t fucking need to hear from you about my love affairs! Who the hell are you? My mom?!” Oikawa shouted back at his friend, who groaned at the pain inflicted by his fist and stared at the brunette with cold, distant eyes.

“Who am I? Your friend for the past 15 years, that’s who I am,” Iwaizumi said with a scornful laugh before getting up from the tile floor. “Do whatever you want, Shittykawa. Go ahead and ruin your life, you crazy bastard.”

Oikawa watched his best friend stagger out of the classroom after leaving him with those words and angry, hot tears began to fill his eyes, blurring his vision. The brunette kicked the chair in his seat angrily and let out a frusturated yell as beads of tears started to trickle down his cheeks and drop onto the ground one by one. It was painful for him to give up on his dream school, but it was even more painful to see Kageyama with another boy. Iwaizumi was right, the thought of him potentially losing the girl that he had a crush on for years terrified him to the core. If he moved to Tokyo now, there’s a good chance that Kageyama will never be his. Oikawa knew very well where he stand in Kageyama’s heart at the moment, and that only made him more anxious and distressed as a more capable and talented guy like Miya Atsumu himself crept up from behind, threatening to overtake him any second now. Oikawa knew, from the bottom of his heart, that everything Iwaizumi said was correct; he only got angry at his childhood friend because he didn’t want to face the truth, he desperately wanted to believe that he could defy the odds with hard work and patience.

 

* * *

 

“Hey you, Atsumu,” a chilling voice sent shivers down the blond’s spine as he tried his best to avoid the captain the entire after school practice. Atsumu carefully swallowed his saliva and turned around to see Kita with his jacket draped over his shoulders and his arms folded in front of his chest. His large, piercing amber eyes stared at the setter without moving an inch, which only added fuel to the existing anxiety that Atsumu was developing throughout the entire practice.

“Y-Yes captain?” Atsumu quickly jogged to Kita’s side, avoiding his glare. Osamu, Ojiro, and Suna stood at the side watching the events unfold, anticipating for the blond’s punishment.

“Where were you on Sunday morning at 10:00 AM?” The captain asked in the same icy tone.

“I-I was…” The blond began. _In Miyagi_. “In bed! I overslept because I w-worked so hard during the match that I was exhausted‼ Haha…”

“That’s true, we couldn’t have won first place without you,” Kita nodded and remarked. Atsumu turned his head towards the captain with his eyes widen in shock. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, perhaps Kita ate some weird medicine and suddenly became a kind, forgiving person?

“Aww shucks, it’s not just me. Everyone worked hard, ya know?” Atsumu said with a smug smile.

“Oh I know, everyone worked hard to cover for your mistakes. Almost all the points we lost that could’ve been prevented was because of you, Atsumu,” Kita said and the blond’s body tensed up at the criticism. Just when he thought his luck today was pretty good so far, he realized Kita was only getting ready to fire back at him.

“Now, tell me. When did I say everyone should be back in their bed by?” The captain started to walk in circles around the guilty setter, who was desperately trying to avoid Kita’s piercing glare.

“10, sir!” Atsumu yelled and Kita nodded in satisfaction. “And when did you go to bed?”

“1-10:30??” The blond kept a straight face as he reported back to the captain.

“I believe you were up till 1 AM talking to Karasuno’s setter every night we were there, am I right or am I wrong?” Kita interrogated and Atsumu was now breaking out in cold sweats.

“Y-You’re right…” Atsumu admitted sheepishly.

“Thus, for your punishment I had you to come in on Sunday at 10:00 AM. But I heard at 10:00 AM you were already on a train to Miyagi, am I right or am I wrong?” Kita questioned and Atsumu cursed under his breath, his eyes shifted to his smug twin who was clearly enjoying all of this. _When I get back I’m gonna eat all of your food, you bastard,_ Atsumu swore in his head.

“What were you doing in Miyagi instead of receiving your punishment?” The pale blond boy continued to ask and Atsumu wanted to die.

“Visiting a friend…” Atsumu confessed in a small voice.

“The Karasuno setter, isn’t it?” Kita inquired and the setter nodded, the captain let out a small sigh in response.

“Do all the cleaning by yourself for this week as your punishment, the rest of the you guys are dismissed,” the captain said and Atsumu groaned in response. The three observers on the side snickered at the setter’s misfortunes and Ojiro quickly tapped the sulky boy’s shoulder.

“Oy, how was your date with Kageyama Tobio?” Ojiro nudged. Atsumu’s eyes darted left and right to make sure Kita was not in sight and pulled out his phone with the little fox strapped onto it.

“She got me this special good luck charm, and asked me out on a second date,” Atsumu bragged happily as he showed the spiker the charm.

“What the— Isn’t that a charm you can get at any shrine?” Ojiro reached out to touch the little white fox but his hands were thwarted by Atsumu.

“Don’t you dare touch it with your dirty sweaty hands! And it’s not just any charm, it’s the charm that Tobio got me, so it must be extra effective,” Atsumu exclaimed proudly without realizing Kita’s presence behind him.

“No phones during practice and especially during your punishment, I’ll give it back when you’re done cleaning,” Kita snatched the phone out of the blond’s hands and walked into the storage room to carry out his “ritual” as Oomimi called it. Atsumu plopped onto the floor and began to throw a childish fit.

“It’s all your fault‼” Atsumu cried as he wiggled on the floor, his fists drummed against the ground angrily. Ojiro simply shrugged and gathered his knee pads and jacket with him.

“Guess that fox wasn’t very lucky after all,” Ojiro snickered as he left the setter to suffer on his own.

 

“Good work,” Kita handed Atsumu’s his phone back after 2 hours worth of cleaning. Atsumu thanked the captain and sighed in relief to see the fox remained in pristine condition.

“That’s a nice charm,” Kita said quietly before exiting the club room.

“Really?? You think so?!” Atsumu exclaimed, surprised at the captain’s remark.

“Yeah. Lock the door after you,” Kita said and closed the club door lightly. Atsumu smiled happily to himself and turned on his phone to tell Kageyama on LINE what Kita just said about the fox charm before he realized that Kageyama haven’t replied to any of his messages ever since the date happened. Half of the messages were left on read and the other half were unread, and Atsumu’s heart sunk a little. He couldn’t help but to wonder whether if he had done anything wrong as he collected his things and made his way to the subway station. The blond stared at the black screen blankly throughout the entire ride and getting excited everytime his phone screen lit up, only to see a random phone game invitation from Gin or a friend request from a person he had never heard of. Atsumu leaned back and rubbed his face with his hand, becoming more and more restless as time goes by. To soothe his anxiety, the second year fished out his earbuds from the side pocket of the backpack and popped them in his ears. He put on some upbeat rock tracks to calm his nerves as he sat back with his eyes closed, trying to focus on the lyrics in order to shut the negative thoughts out of his mind. His peace was short-lived as the phone suddenly buzzed and Atsumu jumped in his seat, he quickly pressed the “answer” button on his earbuds without looking at the phone screen.

“Hello?” He said almost a little bit too loudly with anticipation, startling the granny that sat across him and all heads turned towards the source of the voice.

“Mom wants to know if you’re coming home for dinner,” said a monotone voice that belonged to his twin brother. The frustration and uneasiness that he was bottling in earlier exploded upon hearing Osamu’s voice on the other line.

“I don’t know! Don’t call me if you have nothing important to say!” Atsumu yelled angrily and hung up the phone. He let out an agitated groan and turned on his phone to check for any messages from Kageyama but was further disappointed when nothing showed up. Desperately in need of fresh air, the blond got off two stations from his usual one and counted the stars on the dark sky as he walked home in the chilly late-January night in his thin training jacket, unaffected by the mercilessly cold wind. When the blond’s anxiety finally subsided after dinner and a warm shower, Atsumu was finally able to think clearly and worked up enough courage to call Kageyama over the phone. He dialed her number quickly and prayed for the raven to pick up, but after 6 rings he was sent to voicemail. Not knowing what to say, Atsumu reluctantly hung up and rested his head on the pillow as he toyed with the white fox with his finger, waiting for Kageyama’s call until his eyelids eventually grew heavy and fell asleep next to the phone.

 

* * *

 

Kageyama stepped out of the club room after changing out of her training clothes and looked at the gloomy sky that was threatening to rain any second now. Sugawara was right about the weather and had sent all of them home after ending practice an hour earlier, but her and Hinata had stayed behind to do some extra spiking practices and lost track of time while they were at it. She looked over her shoulders at the tiny middle blocker, who finished getting dressed to go home as well.

“Oy, are you going to be ok? It looks like it’s gonna rain,” Kageyama said as she stared at the cloudy sky.

“Ah right! If I bike quickly enough I should be able to avoid the storm… I’m gonna go on ahead then!” Hinata said and quickly dashed out of the room with a small wave. Kageyama turned off the lights and locked the club room behind her, slightly concerned about the storm to come.

“I better leave quickly too…” Kageyama murmured to herself and walked towards the exit of the school before she felt a few drops of water hit against her cheeks. _The rain is here already_ , Kageyama thought to herself as she rummaged through her bag to see if she brought an umbrella. She sighed in disappointment as she dug, no umbrella in sight until her fingers stroked across the nylon fabric in the pit of her bag. It was a black, telescopic umbrella that Oikawa had gave her that one time when Kageyama was walking into pouring rain without one. Her heart clenched at the thought of Oikawa, and she stared at the umbrella blankly as flashbacks of the brunette holding her hands, hugging her, and kissing her appeared again and again. Ever since her last encounter with the Seijoh setter, it’s been difficult to focus just about on everything, volleyball included. She found herself unable to reply to Atsumu’s incoming messages, especially when she’s having trouble sorting out her feelings towards the Inarizaki setter. Kageyama felt sorry for ignoring the blond’s messages for the past 3 days, but she had came to the realization that Atsumu was no longer a comfortable friend that she could vent all of her thoughts and feelings to; he was somebody that was capable of making her flustered with every move he makes and someone that she had want to keep seeing for as long as possible. Those feelings and thoughts she had towards Atsumu was so foreign to her, and before she even had time to figure out what exactly they were, Oikawa had confessed his love for her. Kageyama let out a long sigh as she opened the umbrella and shielded herself from the rain that was gradually getting heavier before proceeding to walk in the direction of her home.

The walk back home was calming despite the near freezing temperature making her fingers tremble in the cold; the sidewalks were empty and the sound of the pouring rain had drowned out any noises from the traffic. Kageyama had been outside in the rain long enough for her to yearn the warmth of her house, making her increase the pace of her walk to a light jog in those water-soaked shoes. The raven sighed in relief when the name plaque in front of her house was finally in her field of vision, and she stopped to fish out her house keys before hearing faint sobs coming from a figure that was curled up into a ball beside the gate of her home. Kageyama slowly approached the source of the sound, slightly afraid of the unknown and observed it from the side before a person came to mind.

“O-Oikawa senpai?” Kageyama exclaimed and rushed to the figure’s side. The brunette had his head buried in his arms, which hugged his knees tightly to himself. Oikawa was completely drenched in rain, his face pale and his body were cold. He slowly raised his head to see Kageyama looking at him with a worried expression, and tears began to fall from his eyes, blending itself in with the rain water.

“T-Tobio…” Oikawa sobbed, his large eyes filled with sorrow and despair as he looked at the girl that he desperately longed for appear in front of his eyes.

“Oikawa senpai, what are you doing here in this weather? You’re gonna get sick,” Kageyama inquired with a concerned look but Oikawa lunged forward and hugged the raven close to him, knocking the umbrella out of her hands and the two of them were exposed to the downpour.

“W-Why is that… I-I can’t… get anything… that I wanted?...” The brunette managed to utter as he cried his heart out. He buried his head into Kageyama’s shoulder and tightened his grip around her waist, unwilling to let go of the only support he had at the moment.

“Huh?” Kageyama looked at the boy who held her so tightly to him. The silly and prideful Seijoh captain that she had always known had never appeared to be so vulnerable and helpless like now, and it was almost heartbreaking to watch him cry.

“I-I want to g-go to n-nationals… I w-want to go t-to Keio… and I want… y-you… But n-no matter h-how hard I w-worked… Things n-never go the way I w-wanted… And it h-hurts Tobio… To h-have your dream c-crushed over a-and over again… I’m… s-so… tired…” The words were barely audible due to the pouring rain, but Kageyama heard every single one of them. She felt the brunette’s grip slowly loosen around her waist and his entire body weight shifted onto her as he lost consciousness in her arms.

“O-Oikawa senpai?? Oikawa senpai?!” Kageyama shook the captain with force but he was unresponsive. Her hand reached out to touch Oikawa’s cheeks only to find it abnormally warm unlike the rest of his body.

“He has a fever… I have to get him inside…” Kageyama murmured nervously as she tried to hold Oikawa up with one arm slung over her shoulders and supported him with her left arm around his waist. She managed to open the door of her empty home and carefully led Oikawa up the stairs into her bedroom, eventually dropping him in the loveseat sofa across from her bed. Carrying a grown men drenched in rain was no easy feat for the raven, and she sighed in relief when she was finally able to set him down, trying to catch her breath as she slumped against the sofa due to the fatigue.

Anxiety quickly flooded her senses as Kageyama heard barely audible panting noises from the brunette, whose entire face was flushed and in pain. She springed out of her seat and gulped nervously as she typed in the words _how to take care of someone who has a fever_ into the cellular device with her shaky hands. After scanning through numerous articles while retaining as much information as possible, she felt somewhat confident enough but still nervous about nursing the brunette back to health. Kageyama reluctantly reached for Oikawa’s school uniform and began to peel off the white blazer and cream vest off his body as gently as she could. She tried to undo his tie only to find the stupid little knot unusually stubborn and she was barely able to loosen it enough to get it off from his neck. Her fingers then drifted towards the white buttoned shirt, and began to undo the buttons one by one, slowly revealing the brunette’s prominent pecs and chiseled abs. Kageyama let out a soft hiccup as she looked at the milky white flesh in front of her, her cheeks began to heat up from the sight of the Seijoh captain’s bare torso. There was no doubt that Oikawa was absolutely stunning — his luscious damp brown curls that framed his face beautifully, his gorgeously chisled jawline sharp enough to cut any object, his perfectly carved collarbones that rose and fell with each inhale and exhale…

Kageyama slapped herself with both hands on her cheeks, trying to snap herself out of this trance and get back on track with what she was doing. The first year frantically unbuttoned the cuff of the sleeves and removed the rain soaked shirt off the brunette’s body. Her eyes immediately darted to the next item of clothing to remove and froze in place as she stared at his damp beige checkered trousers.

“Do I remove it?.... Do I not?....” Kageyama mumbled nervously, her hand hovered over the button of the pants. Wouldn’t it be terribly inappropriate for a girl like herself to strip another boy while he was unconscious?? But staying in those wet clothes would only make his condition even worse, and without further thoughts Kageyama reached to undo the pants and pulled them off Oikawa’s legs, leaving him in his plain indigo boxers. She quickly dashed into the washroom to fill warm water in a plastic wash basin and grabbed an unused washcloth along with her back to the bedroom. The raven dipped a white washcloth into the water and wiped his body carefully, removing excess rain water and dirt that still lingered on his skin before wrapping him in a large, fluffy towel. Kageyama deliberately avoided looking at the only part of his body that was covered as she dried Oikawa’s chestnut coloured curls to the best of her ability. The first year quickly dashed downstairs in search for the electric blanket that left abandoned in the cupboard for years and carried it on her shoulder up to her bedroom. Spreading the blanket across her bed and plugging it in, she maneuvered the sick boy on top of the blanket and covered him with the comforter, making sure he was finally nice and warm before making another trip downstairs to search for any ibuprofen in the first aid kit box. Kageyama filled a glass with warm water from the kettle and took the bottle of ibuprofen pills along with her. She sat on the edge of the bed and placed the back of her hand on top of Oikawa’s forehead to check for the temperature to only feel that it’s still hotter than the normal body temperature.

“Oikawa senpai,” Kageyama called out while gently shaking him on the shoulder. No reply came from the brunette as his eyes stayed closed and unresponsive upon her touch. Worry and anxiety flushed over the raven once again as she tried to wake up the patient.

“Oikawa senpai... You have to wake up and take your medicine…” Kageyama said once again as she shook the older boy with more force, tears began to collect in her eyes as she waited for the brunette to respond. She couldn’t help but feel partially responsible for the state that Oikawa’s in at the moment. _Maybe if I came home a little bit earlier, this wouldn’t have happened… Maybe if I knew how to take care of a sick person, he might’ve gotten better now… Maybe if I wasn’t so insensitive maybe I could’ve noticed that Oikawa senpai was hurting…_ These kinds of thoughts flashed by Kageyama’s mind and she bit her lip as droplets of tears fell from her eyes. Oikawa was always there beside her whenever she was upset and helpless for the past 3 years, and she felt ashamed that she couldn’t do the same for the Seijoh captain.

 “T-Tobio?...” Came a very light whisper from the older boy and Kageyama jolted at the sound of his voice. She looked at Oikawa, whose eyes were now half open and his lips slightly parted. The first year quickly wiped away any tears that lingered on her face and cleared her throat.

“O-Oikawa senpai‼ You have to take your meds s-so your fever can go down!” The raven said quickly and reached for the glass of water and ibuprofen that rested on her bedside table. She helped Oikawa into a sitting position with her right arm wrapped tightly around his shoulder and fed him the pill. The brunette swallowed the pill obediently and took a few sips of the water from the glass before he was set back down on the bed. His eyelid grew heavy once again as his head hit the soft pillow and Kageyama sighed in relief after Oikawa took the meds. She dabbed the sweat on the brunette’s off with a towel gently as she watched him rest peacefully, the uneasy feeling in her stomach finally subsided a little. She got up slowly and quietly to go collect the older boy’s damp uniform before feeling a light grip around her wrist. Kageyama turned around to see Oikawa’s left hand reached out from the covers to hold onto her in an effort to prevent the black-haired girl from leaving.

“O-Oikawa-senpai? Is there anything wrong? Do you need anything?” Kageyama inquired as she knelt beside the bed and looked at the boy with slightly worried eyes.

“Don’t… go… Stay… by my… side…” Oikawa said weakly with his eyes slightly open, his fingers still wrapped around her wrist.

“Ok, I won’t go anywhere,” The raven promised and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before sitting on the ground with her chin rested on the edge of the bed. The edges of the brunette’s lips curved up slightly before he closed his eyes again and drifted to sleep shortly after, unable to suppress the drowsiness brought by the medication any longer.

 

Oikawa’s eyes peeled open slightly and the soft yellow light from the small lamp next to the bedside poured into his field of vision, illuminating the surroundings of the foreign environment enough for him to observe every little detail. His gaze shifted from the clear white ceiling, to the volleyball posters that were taped to the soft beige walls, and lastly to the hand that he was holding onto throughout his slumber. The brunette shifted his entire body weight to the side and stared at the beautiful girl who fell asleep beside him with fond eyes. He carefully held up his free hand to brush the fallen strands of hair from the raven’s face and gently tucked them behind her ear, his heart drummed against his ribcage loudly upon his touch on her soft, delicate skin. His greed to be closer to the girl made him move closer and closer to the first year, their noses only a mere few inches from each other. Oikawa’s eyes drifted onto those soft, plump lips of hers and carefully leaned forward to plant a kiss on top of them before he realized that the raven was shivering in her sleep. He noticed that Kageyama was still in her school uniform minus the blazer and her hair was still slightly damp from the rain. The raven let out a little sneeze and sniffled slightly, which made Oikawa’s heartstrings tug a little. _Was she too busy taking care of me to even change out of her wet clothes?_ The brunette thought to himself. Worried, Oikawa carefully peeled off the covers and bend over to carry Kageyama up onto the bed without waking her up. Once she was in bed with him, Oikawa covered the two of them with the comforter with his arm wrapped around her shoulder. Kageyama was cool against his warm skin and the brunette hugged her tightly to his bare chest, hoping to heat her up with his body heat. Having the girl he yearned for years to be in such close proximity to him was exhilarating to the brunette to the point where he could no longer fall back to sleep despite the presence of an annoying headache. Oikawa had desperately wished to freeze this moment and spend the rest of his life here with the girl he was madly in love with. He gently stroked the raven’s cheek with the pad of his thumb before bringing his face closer to kiss her on the lips. Oikawa knew he was playing dirty like this by making a move on Kageyama when she’s in deep slumber, but he had wanted to break the rules for once and do whatever he wanted, even if it was just for a night.

“I love you Tobio… I love you so much...” Oikawa said in a barely audible whisper as he raised his head to plant another kiss on her forehead. He closed any remaining spaces between them by hugging the raven tightly and stroked her hair lovingly. He tried to remember every lines and curves of her face, the silky texture of her long flowy hair, the softness of her rosy lips, and the sweet intoxicating scent that belonged to no one else besides Kageyama. As Oikawa carefully raised his arm over to turn off the small red lamp that sat on the brown, wooden bedside table, a faint buzzing sound next to the light source was brought to his attention as he reached over to grab the cellphone instead of the switch. The brunette’s gaze turned ice cold as he looked at the caller ID named “Atsumu” on Kageyama’s phone. He looked at the time on the phone, which read 12:50 AM, and wondered if that guy was right in the mind for calling at such a late time. Nevertheless, he pressed the “talk” button on the phone and held it up to his ear as he covered Kageyama’s with his hand, trying to not wake the raven up who was sleeping soundly in his arms.

“Hello?” Oikawa said as quietly as possible but made sure his icy tone of voice was clear to the other line.

“Tob— Uhm, who is this?” A deep, alert voice spoke from the other line, clearly startled by the sudden appearance of this unfamiliar person with Kageyama’s phone. 

“Oikawa Tooru, Tobio’s senpai,” the brunette announced coldly and the other line was silent for a second before the voice spoke again.

“Why are you picking Tobio’s phone at 1 in the morning?” Miya Atsumu demanded from the other line and the Seijoh captain scoffed at the mention of Kageyama’s name, jealousy bubbling at the pits of his stomach. _When did they get so close to the point that he could start calling Kageyama by her first name?_

“Because I’m at her house and she’s sleeping next to me right now,” Oikawa said with a hint of malice as he turned his torso slightly to look at the raven who’s sleeping soundly beside him.

“Why are you spending the night at her house?” The Inarizaki setter questioned further.

“Because she wanted me to, do you have a problem with that?” The brunette spoke into the phone icily.

“Crazy bastard, like I’ll believe whatever you say,” Miya Atsumu muttered darkly and Oikawa sighed in response, his thumb pressed the “video chat” button and raised the phone high so that both him and Kageyama were captured by the camera. The Seijoh captain then proceed to stroke the raven’s hair away from her face fondly and leaned over to peck on her cheekbone gently. He looked back up at the lens with a smug lopsided smile and held the phone back up to his ear after turning the camera off.

“Back off, Miya Atsumu. Kageyama Tobio is mine,” Oikawa warned the Inarizaki setter with a low voice that sounded almost like a growl and the other line went dead immediately after. The brunette looked at the phone with a pleased smile and finally hung up after a while, complacent with what he had just done. He quietly placed the phone back to where it was on the table and laid down next to Kageyama, who was oblivious to the entire situation. Oikawa smiled apologetically at the raven as he ran his fingers through her luscious hair and drew her close enough to press against his chest.

“Sorry Tobio. Forgive me for being selfish, but I can’t just hand you to another guy,” the brunette whispered softly and rested his chin on top of her head as he held onto the raven tightly with his arms. Oikawa was determined to fight against the odds and do everything in his power to make Kageyama his no matter what it takes, because his first and only love was the last thing he could afford to lose.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnd the drama ensues heheheh... Oikawa finally made a move and how will Atsumu react to this blow?? Find out in the next chapter that hopefully I'll be able to post by the end of May at the latest c: Life's getting busy once again so I probably won't be able to post every two weeks like I planned to but please be patient ♡ thank you all as always for the lovely comments and kudos ╥﹏╥ See you in the next chapter ;D


	8. Eight.

Atsumu sat on the bed with his back slumped against the wall as he stared blankly into the darkness, incapable of feeling a single thing at the moment due to the shock. The phone that rested on his palm buzzed softly as a low battery warning popped up on the screen went ignored by the blond as well. Just only a few minutes ago, Atsumu was ecstatic when the number he had dialed countless times this week was finally picked up by the girl he had longed for, only to hear an unfamiliar male voice coming from the other line. His heart sank as the stranger identified himself as Kageyama’s senpai, anger and jealousy began to boil inside of him as he clenched onto the phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Atsumu was thrusted into a state of denial as his mind frantically came up with logical explanations for Oikawa to be at Kageyama’s house at midnight other than the painfully obvious one; however, all lingering hopes were destroyed instantaneously by the evidence that laid in front of his eyes. His thumb moved on its own to end the call as a measure to defend himself from further shock and harm, returning the screen to his lockscreen wallpaper as if none of the things he saw were real. Atsumu shakily maneuvered himself from his current position to lie down on his pillow, hoping that this was all a dream and he’d forget about it all once he wake up from a deep sleep. Images of a shirtless Oikawa kissing Kageyama in bed surfaced as soon as his eyes were closed and the blond immediately sprang up into sitting position, unable to free his mind from those recurring flashbacks. He climbed down from his bunk with resolve and swapped his comfy tartan pajamas for the tracksuits that laid on the armrest of a chair.

“W-Wha… What are you doing?...” Osamu said with a yawn as the younger twin sat on the ground and put a pair of white socks over his bare feet.

“Going on a run,” Atsumu replied dryly as he stood up from the ground and left the bedroom.

“It’s 1 in the morning?...” The silver haired boy looked at his twin leave with his eyes still half closed and scratched his head in confusion when he checked at the time on his phone. He shook his head with a sigh and slumped back into his warm and comfortable bed, already given up on trying to figure out what his twin was up to.

The crisp early morning air filled up Atsumu’s lungs as he sucked in a deep breath of it after stepping out of his house. The alleys in his neighbourhood were tranquil at this time of the hour and faintly illuminated by tall lampposts that stood evenly spaced between residences. Despite the lack of noises in his surroundings, Atsumu turned the music loud enough for him to sense pain from his ears and took off. After running for 30 minutes straight at top speed up on a steep slope, he eventually reduced his speed and collapsed onto a patch of grass at the peak of a hill due to fatigue in his legs. He wheezed and coughed heavily from the intense run, the katsudon that he had for dinner was starting to travel up to the esophagus and the blond tried his best to force it down. He rolled over to lie on his back after the coughing fits ceased and felt every single part of his body ache in response to the high intensity exercise, but the only pain he was capable of detecting was the one in his heart. Atsumu took the headphones off from his ears, relieving them from the large sound waves that he had somehow became desensitized to despite the discomfort. His hand slowly maneuvered to clench onto the fabric that sat above where the heart rested as he felt an enormous hole was pummeled into his chest, and this was such a foreign feeling to the blond that there’s no way for him to know how to recuperate from it. Not knowing how to deal with the whirlwind of emotions that had knocked all the wind out of him, hot tears began to collect in those amber eyes as a response as Atsumu stared at the clear black sky speckled with millions of stars. At this moment, he had desperately wished for the things he witnessed earlier to all be a dream even when there wasn’t a shooting star present in the sky.

 

* * *

 

The brilliant morning sunlight that peaked in through the gaps of the blinds and the sparrows’ birdsongs woke the raven from her deep slumber. Kageyama’s eyelids peeled open lazily in response to the light to see the ceiling above her and let out a soft yawn before sensing a weight that wrapped around her waist. She shifted her entire body around to lie on her side only to bump into Oikawa’s sculpted chest with her forehead. Kageyama’s eyes gradually widened in shock as she stared at the beautiful brunette that laid next to her peacefully and came to the realization that her and the Seijoh captain had somehow end up sleeping together in the same bed. She immediately springed up from the bed with a loud squeak, breaking away from Oikawa’s loose clasp as the raven frantically recalled everything that happened in the past 12 hours as she sat on the ground in the corner of the bedroom. The brunette’s peaceful sleep was brought to an end due to the commotion as he sat up in the bed and groggily rose a hand up to his eyes to rub them, completely oblivious to Kageyama’s mental breakdown.

“Tobio? What’s wrong?” Oikawa asked with a yawn as his eyes remained half closed.

“W-What h-happened last n-night?” Kageyama stuttered feebly. Oikawa’s eyelids peeled open as he heard how weak and small the raven’s voice was and he got off the bed to rush to her side. The first year was curled up into a ball in the corner of her room, hugging her knees close to her chest pitifully which tugged on Oikawa’s heartstrings.

“Nothing happened, Tobio. You were shivering when you slept at the bedside so I brought you up to onto the bed, don’t worry,” the brunette carefully patted her head as he comforted her, trying not to startle her any further.

“R-Really? That’s good…” Kageyama sighed with relief and that made Oikawa’s chest ache in response. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed and hurt after hearing the younger girl’s words which were like sharp daggers that jabbed at his frail heart. He tried to brush off that awful feeling by redirecting his attention to removing himself from the toasty nest Kageyama made him, only to realize a moment later that he’s nearly naked from top to bottom. The raven seemed to have noticed the setter’s predicament and got on her feet quickly to reach for the school uniform that she laid flat on the chair to dry the night before and handed them to Oikawa without looking at him as much as possible. Flashbacks of the raven undressing the Seijoh captain and studying his sculpted body began to surface in Kageyama’s head, causing her cheeks to turn into a bright shade of red akin to a tomato.

“H-Here’s your uniform,” Kageyama stretched her arm out towards the brunette and her eyes squeezed shut. Oikawa let out a soft chuckle as he took the clothes from the blushing first-year and got dressed. The fabrics still felt slightly damp and cool on his warm skin, but he didn’t mind as it wasn’t completely unbearable.

“You can open your eyes now, I’m done getting dressed,” the brunette said after he put on his uniform and Kageyama slowly opened her eyes and found a fully clothed Oikawa which made her slightly more at ease. “Sorry for causing so much trouble at your place.”

“Ah, not at all…” Kageyama replied quietly. The raven was curious as to what happened to Oikawa last night as he looked extremely distraught and very much unlike his usual flamboyant self, but she couldn’t decide whether it’d be appropriate for her to ask such a personal question. She looked up to Oikawa and studied his expression discreetly in hopes of figuring out if there’s anything wrong with the Seijoh captain, but to no avail.

“But… Can I ask what happened yesterday?” Said the raven when she gave up trying to play detective and decided it’d be quicker to just ask. She had expected the brunette to be somewhat bothered by the question, but Oikawa let out a small, airy laugh and his expression lacked any signs of distress.

“Well, Iwa-chan and I fought yesterday over some things, nothing major,” The captain brushed it off casually as if yesterday was just any ordinary day. “Don’t worry about it.”

“R-Really?...” Kageyama was taken aback by how nonchalant and _normal_ Oikawa seemed today despite what happened yesterday in front of her house. She didn’t want to pry any further but wanted to make sure that he was really ok. After all, the older boy was somehow always there without fail whenever the raven needed comforting, and she wanted to be able to do that Oikawa at least once. “If you need someone to talk to, I’ll listen! We’re friends, right?”

Kageyama’s words of encouragement seemed to have done the opposite of what it was supposed to do as she watched Oikawa’s smile falter slowly. The Seijoh captain swiftly turned his back on the first year and the both of them stood in silence until a few seconds later when he opened his mouth. “Come on, we’ll be late for school.”

 

* * *

 

“Ugh…” Atsumu moaned when the blinding sunlight forced his eyes to open in response. The first thing that came into view was the familiar ceiling of his bedroom rather than the starry sky he was staring at until he passed out. The blond looked around his surroundings to see that somehow he had returned to the warm cozy bed that he left last night after his call with Kageyama— or rather, it was Oikawa who he really talked to. The bothersome image that Atsumu desperately wanted to banish from his memory came flooding back when he tried to recall yesterday night’s events and he yelled in frustruation and kicked off the blankets that laid on top of him in the process. Sound of footsteps rang throughout the hallway and the blond jumped a little when the door was flung open violently.

“Oy, shut up!” The silver-haired boy yelled as he entered the bedroom with damp hair and freshly washed face. He wore an extremely annoyed expression on his face as he sat down on the bed below Atsumu’s and dried his hair with a white fluffy towel.

“How did I get home last night?” The younger twin asked.

“I had to drag your fatass back home because you decided to go off at midnight and take a nap at the park, you little shit,” Osamu said spitefully and threw his towel at the blond’s face as he got up from the bed and walked over to the drawers to put his uniform on.

“Wow, thanks a lot,” Atsumu replied with sarcasm and peeled off the damp towel from his face. He let out a deep sigh as his hand slowly maneuvered to rest above that hole in his chest. The setter was in so much pain that tears welled up his eyes once again when he noticed that empty and heartbroken feeling didn’t go away even after a night; instead, it was back stronger and more powerful than ever. Surges of negative emotions attacked him all at once and slowly chewing him away on the inside. Atsumu hated this feeling and how _vulnerable_ it left him — he hated feeling weak and completely powerless about this whole situation. He was someone who wasn’t hesitant in making moves and taking immediate actions when he wanted something, but for once in his life he was at a loss about what he needed to do in order to make Kageyama his. Nothing that came to mind seemed like it’d work out the way he wanted to and Atsumu wanted to wave the white flag of defeat.

“Dude… Are you crying?? What the hell??” The older twin turned around to look at the younger twin on his bunk bed and exclaimed.

“Shut up!!” Atsumu said in a muffled voice as he buried his face in the white pillow and threw his brother’s towel back at him. The last thing he needed at the moment was Osamu making fun of him for being a crybaby. The silver-haired boy let out a deep sigh and sat on his bunk bed below Atsumu’s.

“Care to explain what actually happened yesterday?” The older twin asked with a tint of exasperation and Atsumu peeked his head from the pillow as he debated whether he should tell his twin.

“Tobio stopped picking up my calls a while back, a-and last night she finally answered…” The setter said while keeping his voice steady.

“Shouldn’t that be something that you should be happy about??” Osamu said in an almost-bored voice.

“I-It is and I was happy but… It wasn’t Tobio who picked up her phone… It was another guy who was sleeping with Tobio,” the blond mumbled weakly followed by a loud sniffle and Osamu choked on the bottled water he happened to be drinking at the moment.

“What? She’s already having sex with another guy? I thought she liked you,” the spiker wheezed.

“She does?!?!? She does like me right???” Atsumu jumped up from his bed and exclaimed.

“Well, every time you talked about her or last time when you got back from your date, you were saying how you two are practically a couple and shit,” Osamu said flatly and the younger twin sulked again.

“I was only bluffing at the time… I don’t actually know if she really does like me,” the blond admitted unwillingly and let out a long sigh as he sunk back down into the soft, cushiony bed.

“Then move on! Didn’t you say that girls come and go, if one doesn’t work out just move onto the next one? Why are you trying so hard and getting so hung up about Kageyama Tobio?” The silver-haired boy said nonchantly.

“I told you she’s different,” Atsumu whined in his bed.

“No kidding, you went from a fuckboy to a love sick puppy who doesn’t want anyone but her,” Osamu stated matter-of-factly.

“I’m not a fuckboy! It’s not my fault that all the girls are after me,” the blond objected and his twin rolled his eyes at that statement.

“All the girls but Kageyama, she clearly doesn’t give a shit about you,” Osamu corrected and that hit Atsumu like a truck just ran over him. _He’s right though_ , Atsumu thought. _Maybe I’ve just been imagining this whole thing, and Tobio doesn’t actually feel a single thing for me_ _and it’s all been my imagination_ …

“I don’t think Kageyama Tobio is the type of girl who goes around seducing guys though, if anything she seems dense as hell to me, especially to all of your moves. Maybe there’s a misunderstanding,” the older twin proposed and got up from his bed.

“Maybe…” Atsumu said weakly and tried to consider that as one of the options. If that was really the case he would be so relieved and happy, ecstatic even; but that seemed _too_ good to be true, especially when Kageyama is so attractive and also quite gullible — what if Oikawa told her that they should date and she just agreed on a whim or finally succumbed to the brown-haired boy’s seduction? He let out a loud groan and pulled the blankets over his head to hide his face from the world.

“I’m guessing you’re not going to school today?” Osamu said as he put on a winter jacket and slung the black backpack over his shoulder.

“No… How I can go in this state…” The younger twin mumbled underneath the layers of blankets.

“Are you sure? Kita still expects you to show up and clean everyday,” the silver-haired boy asked.

“Nah… Tell him I’m sick today…” Atsumu replied feebly. Usually images of angry and cold Kita would send shivers down the setter’s spine, but today he could care less about the captain. He wanted, no, he _needed_ to know how Kageyama really feels about him, and what her relationship with Oikawa Tooru is exactly. He reached to fetch his phone that was stuck in between the bedframe and the mattress before he felt a surge of drowsiness overtake him and lost consciousness shortly after.

 

* * *

 

Kageyama dribbled the volleyball in her hand against the gymnasium floor as last night’s events flashed across her mind. She was sure that something’s quite off about Oikawa, and that it was definitely more than a mere fight with Iwaizumi, but she couldn’t pinpoint the root cause. Things the Seijoh captain said the night before repeated themselves over and over again in the raven’s head, drowning out the sounds of shoes squeaking and shouts that echoed across the building. She wanted to believe that Oikawa was fine as he insisted, but his actions and especially his expression when she offered to help as a friend said otherwise…

“Watch out!!” A voice yelled and a ball in Kageyama’s direction and directly hit her in the forehead, knocking her over onto the ground and snapping out of her train of thoughts. All the girls gathered around the setter whose forehead is in a bright side of red.

“Ow…” She whined as the raven hovered both of her hands over the spot where the ball hit.

“Kageyama!! Are you ok?? Kageyama?” Sugawara asked, worried.

“I-I’m ok…” Kageyama sighed and slowly got up to her feet with the help of her teammates and saw a tuft of orange hair peeking out behind Michimiya’s back. The setter’s brows furrowed as she marched towards the hidden middle blocker, glaring daggers at the ginger who’s trembling in fear.

“Hinata you idiot!!” Kageyama yelled and dragged the tiny girl away from the third year.

“It’s not my fault that you were zoning out!!!” Hinata protested as she shielded herself from Kageyama’s attacks with her stick arms.

“You little—” The setter said and reached to grab the ginger by her jersey as the latter tried to make her escape but was held back by Aihara.

“Kageyama, go to the nurse’s office,” the ex-captain interrupted as she broke up the fight between the two first years.

“But I’m ok! My head doesn’t hurt anymore,” the raven argued.

“No, you’re clearly not. You have been zoning out throughout the entire practice, go rest there and also get your head checked,” Sugawara said in a serious tone.

“But—”

“Just go, this is an order. Yamaguchi, can you take Kageyama to the nurse’s office?” Sugawara asked the green-haired girl and she agreed. Kageyama pouted and quietly followed the middle blocker to the nurse’s office as the third year ordered. Yamaguchi stayed throughout the entire time as nurse conducted a series of test to make sure the setter didn’t get a concussion. After confirming the raven was ok, she was ordered to rest on the patient’s bed until she felt better and Yamaguchi left to bring Kageyama’s belongings from the locker room. After dropping the setter’s things off at the nurse office, the freckled girl bid her goodbye and went back to the gym to continue practice.

Kageyama let out a long sigh as she tossed around in the bed, frustruated about being kicked out from practice. Bored, she reached down for her phone that was tucked inside of her bag pocket and turned it on. She got a message from her parents informing their return from a business trip tomorrow and reminding their daughter to lock the doors and windows properly at night for the millionth time. Kageyama rolled her eyes at the reminder and exited the group chat on LINE with her parents and returned to the chat page. The raven suddenly froze in her spot when she saw the words “Call time 2:46” in the chat with Atsumu. Kageyama jumped up from the bed and tapped into the chat as she frantically tried to remember if she called the blond yesterday, but to no avail. The first year was still unprepared to face and speak to Atsumu ever since their “date”, and the fact that there was a 3 minute call with him (that she had no recollection of) only made her extremely anxious. _What if I said something weird or even worse, what if I said something I shouldn’t have said?_ The raven thought to herself. _What if…_

Curiousity killed the cat, and Kageyama _needed_ to know what she said yesterday to the Inarizaki setter despite her not being ready to talk to him yet. The fear of saying something inappropriate was starting to consume her bit and bit and Kageyama tapped on the “call” button without further hesitation. She sat on the bed anxiously waiting for the call to go through and her heart beat was so loud that she almost couldn’t hear the other line. She grabbed onto the hem of her shirt and eyes squeezed tightly shut as she waited for Atsumu to pick up the call.

“Hello?” An unfamiliar voice spoke from the other line and Kageyama’s eyes opened in surprise.

“H-Hello? I-Is this Atsumu?” She asked almost in a whisper.

“No, it’s his brother,” said the monotone voice and the face of Miya Osamu popped into her head.

“H-Hi… Uhm, may I speak to Atsumu?” Kageyama inquired nervously.

“He’s passed out from a pretty high fever, so I don’t think he can talk to you anytime soon,” Osamu sighed and the first year’s heart clenched at the news of Atsumu being sick.

“I-Is he ok?? How did he get sick? Is it really bad?” Kageyama blurted out without realizing. Anxiety regarding talking to Atsumu and problems with Oikawa were pushed to the very back of her mind as concern for the blond’s health settled in.

“He suddenly went out for jog at 1 in the morning and stayed out in the cold for 3 hours, now he has a 40 degrees fever,” the silver-haired boy reported nonchalantly from the other line. Kageyama immediately jumped off the bed, hastily put on her shoes and grabbed her bag with her free hand and sprinted out of the nurse’s office with the phone still held up to her ear.

“Can I go see him? Please?” The raven pleaded to the other line as she ran out of the school and headed in the direction of the train station. Everything she’s doing at the moment seemed automatic — there wasn’t any time or room allotted for hesitation as her body moved before she could think.

“U-Uhm, huh?? I-I guess? I’ll message you the address if you don’t have it,” the voice on the other line appeared to be startled by Kageyama’s serious and unexpected request.

“Thanks,” The first year said quickly and hung up the phone as she started to sprint in full speed to the train station. Kageyama had no idea what’s gotten into her all of a sudden, but at this very moment she knew she _had_ to see Atsumu right now. She entered the busy train station flooded with a sea of students and adults getting off from work and school, trying not to get drowned by the mass of people moving towards the exit of the station. Kageyama was able to find a ticket machine after freeing herself and hastily pressed “Hyogo” for the trip destination. After obtaining her ticket, the setter darted towards the gates and searched for her train that’s about to leave in two minutes. Kageyama dashed into the train compartment with only a few seconds to spare before the doors closed and started accelerating. She let out a relieved sigh as the first year slowly maneuvered herself to a free seat and tried to catch her breath. Kageyama took out her phone to see that Atsumu, no, _Osamu_ , had sent her the address to their home, she copied the address and put it into a map app that gave her specific directions on how to get to her destination. The raven swallowed thickly as her eyes scanned the complex list of turns she needed to make, getting increasingly anxious about potentially getting lost in a foreign city. She was never good with roads and directions even if they were outlined as clear and concise for her as possible, but that wasn’t going to stop her especially today. Dazzling sceneries of prefectures flew by before her eyes as the train travelled and Kageyama stared at them in awe before gradually falling into a deep slumber with her hands clenched tightly around a paper bag with a bottle of fever medicine in it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /Slowly emerges from a rock/ Hello everyone!! Remember I said I'd update in late May when I last left off?? Hahahhahah, here I am with a new chapter in late August :D please don't kill me because I'm already dead from summer classes and work so spare me this time!! This chapter is pretty anticlimatic but I promise there'll be some action in the next one!! I wrote a portion of this chapter way back in early May and haven't touched it till literally last week so I apologize if my writing seemed especially shitty here >_< From a stomache to a fever, poor Atsumu just keeps suffering in this fic and good ol' Tobio's more confused than ever /cackles sadistically/ As always, a huge THANK YOU to all who left kudos and comments ♡ they really are the source of energy and motivation for me to continue writing >///< I shall see y'all next time (hopefully not in late December) with a new chapter ;D


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